| Decalogue II | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Krzysztof Kieślowski |
| Produced by | Ryszard Chutkovski |
| Written by | Krzysztof Kieślowski Krzysztof Piesiewicz |
| Starring | Krystyna Janda Aleksander Bardini Olgierd Łukaszewicz |
| Music by | Zbigniew Preisner |
| Cinematography | Edward Klosinski |
| Editing by | Ewa Smal |
| Distributed by | Polish Television |
| Release date(s) | 1988 |
| Running time | 57 min. |
| Country | Poland |
| Language | Polish |
| Budget | $10.000 |
The Decalogue - Two (Polish: Dekalog, dwa) is a second part of a television series The Decalogue by Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski, connected to the second imperative of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."[1][2][3]
The episode focusses on two persons: an elderly doctor (Aleksander Bardini), who lives alone in the ubiquitous Dekalog apartment block and works in a local hospital and Dorota Geller, a violinist with the Philharmonic Orchestra, she is in her 30s (Krystyna Janda), who lives in the same building.
The doctor lost his family during the war and has remained a bachelor ever since, he spends his free time raising plants and birds in his house and telling drops of his life story to his cleaning lady, Barbara.
The doctor meets Dorota coming out of the lift one day, as she is smoking a cigarette by the window. She apparently wants to talk to him, but is not courageous enough at first. The doctor goes out and buys milk and runs across Dorota again, since she has not moved from the spot where they met earlier that morning. She follows the doctor to his apartment and stops by the door where the doctor hears her and opens the door . She asks him if he remembers her - getting a positive answer because she in fact ran over the doctor's dog with her car some years ago. After this unpleasant beginning of conversation, Dorota reveals what she needs an assessment of her husband's condition, who is seriously ill with a disease and lies in the hospital. The doctor is reluctant to do so saying that Dorota has to come to the hospital during visiting hours and closes his door. The doctor takes pity on her and asks her to come later that day to the hospital, he asks for Andrzej Geller's file; later that day Dorota comes in and the doctor tells her that he is very ill and that things do not seem well but he also says that in his experience patients with even less chances than him have recovered so his prognosis is very reserved.
Dorota does not give up and visits the doctor at his apartment again. She reveals important information: she is pregnant but not by her husband and it is last chance she could have to get pregnant. She wants to know if Andrzej will live; if he dies, she would carry to term, if he survives, she would abort. The doctor suddenly finds himself in a situation to decide on the life of others, he takes a keen interest in Andrzej's case and conducts many studies. Dorota is having a lot of problems of her own, she goes to the gynecologist and schedules an abortion anyway. She also meets with an acquaintance of her lover's, also a musician who is on tour, she receives a passport from her lover and a request to bring some sheets of music along when she will go abroad to him. She also confronts an alpinist who is a friend of her husbands that has brought his gear to her, she gets very angry and tells him that Andrzej is still alive and that his gear belongs in the Mountaineering Club, the team shall be leaving for India probably to climb Mt. Everest.
In an ambiguous scene in a laboratory, the doctor seems to come to the conclusion that Andrzej's disease is progressing (but the scene seems to suggest that Andrzej could be recovering), Dorota tells him that he does not escape liability by his reserved prognosis and that she is going to have an abortion next day, he tells her to stop, Andrzej is dying. She has him swear by it, which he does.
In a typical "Kieślowskiesque" scene, Andrzej opens his eyes and sees a bee miraculously swimming out of a glass with strawberries that Dorota had brought to him. Andrzej stands up and goes to the doctor's office, the doctor says that he is surprised (but does not seem to be) that he recovered. Andrzej says that he came back from "beyond" and is happy to have a baby with Dorota.[4][5]
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