Posted 17 May 2004 - 12:53 PM
I watched A Short Film About Love last night for the first time and am just amazed. We had some discussion on the shorter version (which I just reread) about Baugh's Christ figure comparison and our resistance to it, but this version of the story really does create a strong character whose actions and attitudes shed insight into the way Jesus empathizes with us. No, you cannot simply lay every detail in Tomek's life against Christ's sinlessness and create a perfect parallel. I wager that if you could, you'd have a character far less capable of showing you a textured portrayal of the way love for others is played out and you'd risk a melodramatic and heavy-handed narrative voice for the simple reason that fallen human characters really can't adequately convey or contain all of the attributes of Christ. To make them like Christ in all particulars makes them less human in a dramatic form.
And Tomek is not a static character. His initial interest in the woman (and his initial response to seeing her in intimate contexts) was prurient, but it is clear that his heart has unmistakeably changed, and that he has come to regard her as a person in the fullness that God gave her. It does not please him, in any fashion, to see her fill the unhappiness of her life with men who mean nothing to her, and it's not really because he believes it should be him in her bed. He says as much to her-- doesn't know what he wants from her except for her to know she loves him-- and the clumsy romantic encounter that precipitates the last act was hardly his idea. He didn't flee, no, but it isn't in his nature to flee any chance to see her. His physically-spent response to her turning her promiscuous affections to him fits perfectly-- his body literally cannot do to her what the other men could. That she takes his premature ejaculation as a proof that "love" is just the electrical impulses that excite us before we orgasm is a perfect summary of the way her own heart as been twisted, and it's the last moment when her version of love holds any sway. Yes, the visual POV switches now from Tomek to the woman, as she spies on him (or his empty apartment), but the thematic point of view is now irrevocably Tomek's; her response to his embarrassment is the beginning of the triumph of loving your neighbor as yourself.
How wonderful is the ending to this version! It resonates with so much of what we've seen come before-- the act of seeing another from afar, seeing yourself as God sees you, i.e., with love and genuine concern and a desire for the best for our souls, trying to stick yourself into the life of a person you only half-know. Tomek will recover and the woman sees that love of a deeper quality is not only possible, but within her grasp. Is it the most hopeful Kieslowski moment?
At the same time, how much more bitter does this version make the shorter version? There's still much of the same transformation in the woman, but Tomek's dismissal stops her short of confirming his love and seeing herself as he sees her. He is embittered and will retreat to his darkened room, and she will go on to the promises of the next man.
As an actor, director, etc. it must have been odd to shoot both endings.
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