Decalogue III

Decalogue III
Directed by	Krzysztof Kieślowski
Produced by	Ryszard Chutkovski
Written by	Krzysztof Kieślowski Krzysztof Piesiewicz
Starring	Daniel Olbrychski Maria Pakulnis Joanna Szczepowska
Music by	Zbigniew Preisner
Cinematography	Piotr Sobociński
Editing by	Ewa Smal
Distributed by	Polish Television
Release date(s)	1988
Running time	56 min.
Country	Poland
Language	Polish
Budget	$10.000

The Decalogue - Three (Polish: Dekalog, trzy) is a third part of the television series The Decalogue by Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski, connected to the third imperative of the Ten Commandments: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.^[1][2]

Plot

Ewa (Maria Pakulnis) reunites with her ex-lover Janusz (Daniel Olbrychski)

It is Christmas Eve. Janusz (Daniel Olbrychski), a taxicab driver, plays Święty Mikołaj for his children and then comes home as himself, crossing paths with Krzystof, to his wife and children to spend the evening there. They attend Mass in the city. He spots Ewa (Maria Pakulnis), with whom he had a torrid affair three years ago. Ewa happens upon the church after visiting her aunt in the retirement home, the aunt is senile and mixes Ewa's ages asking if she did her homework but also inquires about her husband.

She later comes to Janusz's looking for her ex-lover, asking him for help finding her husband, who has disappeared. Janusz leaves his house saying that his taxi got stolen, his wife (Joanna Szczepowska) suspects something and suggests that he should leave it alone, he answers back that the taxi is their sole income and leaves. They spend the whole night together driving around the city and discussing past and present. Janusz still wants to go home to be with his family on Christmas evening, but Ewa is desperate and manages to keep him with her by setting up clues along the way to track her husband down. Janusz manages to catch up with her game but does not say anything.

After inquiring in hospitals and the train station, when the clock strikes seven the next morning, Ewa reveals that she was lying to Janusz, she is no longer with her husband, they divorced right after her tryst with Janusz and he has been living with his new family in Kraków for the past three years. She is now forced to face the holidays all alone while watching other families sharing the love and peace that she does not have. If she succeeded in her game, she would seek a way of moving on, if she did not, she would have committed suicide. They part at dawn, with Janusz returning to his family and Eva leaving with her loneliness.^[3][4][5]

Cast

• Daniel Olbrychski - Janusz
• Maria Pakulnis - Ewa
• Joanna Szczepowska - Janusz's wife
• Artur Barciś - tram-driver
• Krystyna Drochocka - aunt
• Krzysztof Kumor - doctor
• Henryk Baranowski - Krzysztof
• Jacek Kalucki - policeman

• In other roles:

Zygmunt Fok, Jacek Kalucki, Barbara Kolodziejska, Maria Krawczyk, Jerzy Zygmunt Nowak, Piotr Rzymszkiewicz, Wlodzimierz Rzeczycki, Wlodzimierz Musial

Janusz (Daniel Olbrychski) with his wife (Joanna Sczepowska)

References

1. ^ Episode overview on www.imdb.com
2. ^ Episode overview on http://artsandfaith.com
3. ^ Synopsis on www.facets.org
4. ^ Synopsis on www.rottentomatoes.com
5. ^ http://filmsufi.blogspot.com/2009/03/dekalog-3-remember-sabbath-day-to-keep.html Episode overview