Krzysztof Piesiewicz Movies

Director Danis Tanovic picks up where the late-Krzysztof Kieslowski left off by taking on the second installment of Kieslowski's "Heaven," "Hell," and "Purgatory" trilogy (the first was adapted by Run Lola Run director Tom Tykwer) with this tale of a family whose dark past returns with a vengeance. Loosely modeled by screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz on the second act of Dante's Inferno, Hell tells the story of sisters Sophie (Emmanuelle Béart), Céline (Karin Viard), and Anne (Marie Gillain), whose lives were turned upside down when their father was imprisoned and their mother was rendered a wheelchair-bound mute. As the estranged sisters are slowly brought back together by a mysterious and handsome stranger who is somehow involved with the tragic events of the past, the questions that had for years gone unanswered slowly begin to drift into focus. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Directed by Michal Rosa, this Polish film centers around the life of Magda, a successful business woman whose parents were killed in a freakish car accident in the late 1970's. Her days filled with tough executive decisions, Magda lets her anxieties loose through drug-induced dance marathons at the local techno club, and cools off in the backroom. It's during one of these breaks when she notices Simon (Bartosz Opania), a tense looking man who has been scoping her out for sometime. Though initially attracted to him, Magda quickly finds out he was one of the small boys who had inadvertently caused the car accident that killed her parents, and has spent his life obsessed with tracing hers. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

The concluding chapter in filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Three Colors" trilogy, Red stars the luminous Irène Jacob as Valentine, a young student and fashion model who befriends a bitter former judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant, his character a proxy for Kieslowski himself). Their accidental meeting is just one of the many chance encounters woven through the narrative fabric of this feature, the most accomplished effort in Kieslowski's highly ambitious series. Like its predecessors, Red corresponds to a color of the French flag, as well as the color's symbolic attributes. The subject here is fraternity, and indeed, its central characters are all closely connected, their destinies locked on a collision course. The film's final scene even ties up the trilogy by bringing together the protagonists of the other features. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

The Double Life of Véronique is the story of two young women who are -- in some mysterious and irresolvable way -- the same woman leading two different yet interconnected lives. Those familiar with Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski's later "Three Colors" trilogy of Blue, White, and Red will recognize his fascination with accidental happenings and chance encounters, as well as Irène Jacob (from Red) whose performance as both Veronika and Veronique won the 1991 Cannes Film Festival award for best actress. Veronika and Véronique are born on the same day in 1966, one in Poland, the other in France. They grow up separately, unaware of each other's existence, but with the vague and rarely expressed feeling that they are "not alone." The story begins in Poland, where Veronika (like Véronique) is a talented vocalist and music student who wins a prestigious singing competition and is given the chance to perform with a local symphony. On the night of the concert, while singing a duet onstage, Veronika loses consciousness and dies. Véronique is emotionally wounded by the loss of her double and decides to end her singing career. The film charts the effect of Veronika's death on Véronique and on her dispassionate and unsatisfying relationships with men, especially her father. She is led to puppeteer and children's book author Alexandre Fabbri (Philippe Volter), whose puppet shows and stories are dramatic variants on her own mysterious problem. While looking through photographs of Véronique's trip to Poland, Fabbri discovers a picture of Veronika walking through a student demonstration in Kracow. He shows the picture to Véronique, who intuits the significance of Veronika's perfect likeness to herself. ~ Anthony Reed, Rovi

Elzbieta (Teresa Marczewska) confronts ethics professor Zofia (Maria Koscialkowska), who refused to hide her from the Nazis during World War II, and the women gain a deeper understanding of how the war scarred both of them. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Nineteen-year-old Tomek (Olaf Lubaszenko) spies on the older, promiscuous Magda (Grazyna Szapolowska), who then seduces him. This episode was released in an expanded version as A Short Film About Love. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Jacek (Miroslaw Baka) murders a cab driver and is sentenced to die, despite the efforts of his inexperienced lawyer. This episode was released in an expanded version as A Short Film About Killing. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

When 20-year-old Anka (Adrianna Biedrzynska) learns that her "father" is not her biological father, her feelings for him take a new turn. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Krzysztof's (Henryk Baranowski) faith in scientific reason is challenged when incorrect computer weather information leads to tragedy for his young son, Pawel (Wojciech Klata). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Krzysztof Kieslowski, the internationally renowned filmmaker best known for his Trois Couleurs trilogy (Blue, White, and Red), created perhaps his most ambitious work with this ten-part series produced for Polish television in 1988 and 1989. Each of the ten segments, running between 53 and 58 minutes in length, takes place among the inhabitants of a Warsaw apartment complex, and focuses on a moral and ethical quandary inspired by the Ten Commandments, of which Kieslowski said, "For 6,000 years these rules have been unquestionably right, and yet we break them every day." After TV showings in Europe and many international film festivals and art-house screenings, The Decalogue was released on home video in the spring of 2000. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The late, celebrated Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski) has created a downbeat but emotionally harrowing, magic realist tale in this film about a fictional couple whose lives are taken over by events in Poland in the turbulent, early 1980s. Antoni Zyro (Jerzy Radziwilowicz), a Polish attorney, dies in an automobile accident. For the next several weeks, his spirit watches what happens to his wife Ula (Grazyna Szapolowska) and his cause, and directs her course of action. Ula decides that her love for her dead husband can only be expressed by hiring an attorney to defend Antoni's clients - one of the most prominent is a hero of the Gdansk strikes, accused of creating the Polish solidarity movement and fighting for the cause of democratic labor. As the lawyer defends the worker who fights for his right to organize a union, Ula is still struggling with the loss of her husband -- and losing her battle to go on. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi