After attending the funeral of their estranged father, brothers Jerzy (Jerzy Stuhr) and Artur (Zbigniew Zamachowski) discover that they have inherited a valuable stamp collection from him. In their attempts to resolve what exactly they should do with this unexpected windfall, the brothers’ relationship begins to strain. This episode of Dekalog is distinct from the rest, in that it is a black comedy rather than a drama.
Dekalog has achieved that rare feat of being a foreign-language feature that is internationally popular, not only with film critics, but also with the viewing public. How exactly did this 10-part cycle, originally made for television in communist Poland and loosely based around the Ten Commandments, find such success? The answer lies in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s ability to transplant broader moral dilemmas into the everyday lives of its characters, to dramatise rather than dictate reality, to find the universal resonance in seemingly local issues – and to do all of this with a strikingly mature aesthetic, hitherto unseen on most television sets.
Film will be available via ICA Cinema 3 between 21 May - 28 May.
