CANNES CLASSICS – Kieślowski owes nothing to chance

Twenty-seven years after its selection for Un Certain Regard, Blind Chance returns to Cannes in a restored version. This film – one of Kieślowski’s earliest – painted such a telling picture of the dark side of communism that it was banned on release in the director’s home country of Poland. Beyond this aspect, the film offers a philosophical take on free will and on the uncertainty principle, themes dear to the director’s heart.

What would have happened had he not opened this door? Would she still be alive if she hadn’t crossed the road? These questions, which continue to trouble us at the end of the film, have been well thought out in advance by Krzysztof Kieślowski. His character, Witek, chases after the train. And with that, the director opens up the field of possibilities and explores  three endings for the story.
 

Photo of the film © RR

Witek manages to board the train and thanks to the people he meets, joins the Party. Another sequence, another hypothesis: stopped by the ticket inspector, he misses the train, gets into a quarrel, is arrested and ends up involved with the Opposition. In the final option, the train continues on its way. Witek gets married and becomes a doctor. But irrespective of the scenarios envisaged – even the happiest on the surface – destiny turns Witek’s life upside down and ultimately destroys it.

Three films Intertwined in one. This work is imbued with the pessimism that pervades Kieślowski’s entire filmography. Shot well before The Double Life of Véronique (1991) and the Three colours trilogy (1993-1994). Blind Chance is without a doubt one of the most philosophical films of the director’s career. Do we have a choice? Is free will a mirage? What role is played by the inescapable? Still topical 33 years after the making of the films, these questions are in fact timeless .

Restored in 2K, with calibration supervised by the director of photography

Tarik Khaldi

SCREENING

Thursday, 15 May/ Salle Buñuel / 7.30 pm
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