A young virginal boy peeps at a neighbour who he has fallen in love with. A Short Film About Love is a story of the unpredictability of human life, a depiction of love in a melancholy style. The original Dekalog version is slightly shorter and has a different ending, but a preference is dependent upon interpretation.

This film makes me remember the days when I was in love unrequitedly. I imagine my review for this film will be quite subjective for that very reason. It was not long ago and I still think of the boy every day. I felt, after watching this film, that I was free to forget. After I had finished watching, I felt as if I was loved almost religiously, and in a way this film is religious. A young man dressed in white appears at two pivotal moments in the film, once at the most joyful time and the other when everything seems to be distraught for the protagonist. There are others who have been in the very same situation: unrequited love.

I would imagine that Kieslowski teaches the audience to know what love is situationally, to question its existence in our lives. Can we be entertained while watching this then, if it gives us so much to think about? A Short Film About Love does not give us much to think about other than love, so in a way it gives us much more to feel. Even when we see casual sex, we see the characters with a mood so warm and free from hate. We know that, whether from experience or from Kieslowski’s script, human life is exciting even if it is often painful.

I knew throughout that Kieslowski inspires with A Short Film About Love. One thing that helps this film to be so effective is that it does not show abnormal characters, it shows us people we can relate to, individuals that we might see everyday and wonder how they live their lives: how does he get up every morning and bathe, why does she walk to work? Most of all however, it shows you and I. The story is emotionally realistic and rich because it shows us, it shows human beings in love. Kieslowski paints us a picture of how cinema can easily show humans falling in love, and I cannot think of a film more beautiful. He just so happens to be the only director who has directed two of my favourite films (Three Colours: Blue is also almost perfect).