Table Of Contentafter kies´ lowski
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Cinema and television studies / Filmmakers
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“This distinguished book brings together an international group of scholars and critics to consider Kies´lowski’s o
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wide influence on contemporary world cinema. Each essay makes a distinctive contribution to this w
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investigation, whether considering Kies´lowski’s legacy in the context of national cinemas, his effect on other r o
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directors such as Godard, Haneke, or Kiarostami, and his ‘global’ legacy—including surveys of his influence The Legacy of Krzysztof Kies´lowski
on such unexpected media as postmodern Hollywood narrative and American television.”
—James Morrison, associate professor of literature and film at Claremont McKenna College
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“After Kies´lowski is an important contribution to the study of Krzysztof Kies´lowski, the prematurely deceased e
master of European cinemas, and of his legacy. The contributors of this excellent collection of essays
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explore both his Polish and internationally made films in view of the influence that his works, his philosophy,
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and his approach to film aesthetics have exerted on film production all over the world long after the i
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director’s death.”
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—Janina Falkowska, professor of film studies at the University of Western Ontario, Canada ´ i
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Steven Woodward is associate professor of film and literature at Bishop’s University, Canada. w
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Contributors: John Caruana, Paul Coates, Sarah Cooper, Charles Eidsvik, Georgina Evans, Marek Haltof,
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Joseph G. Kickasola, Renata Murawska, Sean O’Sullivan, Emma Wilson, Steven Woodward
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Contemporary Approaches to Film and Television Series
On cover: Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi in Heaven (Courtesy of Photofest)
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Cover design by Maya Rhodes
ISBN 978-0-8143-3326-6
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Wayne State University Press a
Detroit, Michigan 48201-1309 9 780814 333266
FnL1 00 0000 Edited by Steven Woodward
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After Kies´lowski
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Contemporary Approaches to Film and Television Series
A complete listing of the books in this series
can be found online at wsupress.wayne.edu
General Editor
Barry Keith Grant
Brock University
Advisory Editors
Patricia B. Erens
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Lucy Fischer
University of Pittsburgh
Caren J. Deming
University of Arizona
Robert J. Burgoyne
Wayne State University
Tom Gunning
University of Chicago
Anna McCarthy
New York University
Peter X. Feng
University of Delaware
Lisa Parks
University of California–Santa Barbara
Jeffrey Sconce
Northwestern University
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sAfter Kies´lowski
wThe Legacy of Krzysztof Kies´lowski
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WAynE STATE univErSiTy prESS dETroiT
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© 2009 by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan 48201. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced without formal permission. Manufactured in the
United States of America.
13 12 11 10 09 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
After Kieślowski : the legacy of Krzysztof Kieślowski / edited by Steven Woodward.
p. cm. — (Contemporary approaches to film and television series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8143-3326-6
EISBN 978-0-8143-3838-4
1. Kieślowski, Krzysztof, 1941–1996—Criticism and interpretation. I. Woodward, Steven, 1964–
PN1998.3.K54A38 2009
791.4302’33092—dc22
2008037701
Designed and typeset by Maya Rhodes
Composed in Helvetica Neue and Minion Pro
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For Wendy and Jamie
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix Introduction (Steven Woodward) 1
Part I. The Polish Legacy
1. Still Alive: Kieślowski’s Influence on Post-Communist Polish Cinema 19
Marek Haltof
2. Living On: From Kieślowski to Zanussi 34
Sarah Cooper
3. Turning Director: Jerzy Stuhr Does Kieślowski 49
Renata Murawska
4. Form Is the Key, and Lessons in Kieślowski: An Interview with
Jerzy Stuhr 66
Renata Murawska
Part II. The European Legacy
5. After Kieślowski: Voyages in European Cinema 83
Emma Wilson
6. Social Sense: Krzysztof Kieślowski and Michael Haneke 99
Georgina Evans
7. Just Gaming? Kieślowski’s Blind Chance, Tykwer’s Run Lola Run,
and a Note on Heaven 113
Paul Coates
8. The Picture of Marriage: Godard’s Contempt and Kieślowski’s White 127
Steven Woodward
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CONTENTS
Part III. The Global Legacy
9. Kieślowski’s Visual Legacy 149
Charles Eidsvik
10. Kieślowski Crosses the Atlantic 165
Joseph G. Kickasola
11. Kieślowski and Kiarostami: A Metaphysical Cinema 186
John Caruana
12. The Decalogue and the Remaking of American Television 202
Sean O’Sullivan
Contributors 227 Index 231
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Acknowledgments
Tracing the global legacy of a filmmaker like Krzysztof Kieślowski would
be impossible for a single, isolated critic. As the editor of a volume that has
drawn on the much greater expertise of the other ten contributors, I thank
every one of them for their very considerable work on this project. Many have
contributed personal resources and channeled whatever institutional support
they have (the ever-shrinking support for travel, for example) into the book.
To take but one example of which I am aware, Renata Murawska flew to Po-
land from Australia for the purpose of conducting the interview with Jerzy
Stuhr included in this volume. Beyond such considerable concerns of time
and money, every one of the contributors has responded with dedication and
grace to my editorial queries through what has proved to be a lengthy pro-
cess.
Barry Keith Grant, general editor of the Contemporary Approaches to
Film and Television Series for Wayne State University Press, was very helpful
in identifying major weaknesses of the first draft of the manuscript, as were
the anonymous expert readers who evaluated it for the press. Annie Martin,
acquisitions editor at the press, has been constantly encouraging through the
process of editing the book and tireless in responding to my reiterations of the
same questions. Many others have helped turn manuscript into book, includ-
ing Carrie Downes Teefey, Maya Rhodes, and Beth Ina.
For help with illustrations from Polish sources, we thank Małgorzata Cup
of Telewizja Polska and Grzegorz Balski of Filmoteka Narodowa. I also thank
Krzysztof Piesiewicz’s agent, Nicole Cann, who very kindly provided me with
the English translation of Heaven (2002). The cost of indexing the book was
defrayed by a generous grant from the Research Committee of my employer,
Bishop’s University, for which I am very grateful.
Finally, I offer my deepest gratitude to my wife, Wendy Bontinen, on
behalf of both myself and the other contributors. She has read through the
manuscript many more times than I and has identified weaknesses and incon-
sistencies throughout that have simply eluded my calloused eye.
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