When Krzysztof Kieślowski began production on a ten-part Polish television series whose budget was so low that he could only afford two takes maximum, nobody foresaw that the end result would be acclaimed as one of the greatest cinema achievements of the late twentieth century.

But that’s what Dekalog is: as much an intricate work of moral philosophy as it is a collection of psychologically riveting narratives. Each standalone story revolves around the consequences arising from a breach of one of the Ten Commandments, but this is no finger-wagging religious tract: Kieślowski was one of film history’s keenest observers of human nature, and his troubled, vainglorious, self-deceiving, deeply flawed characters (many played by some of Poland’s finest character actors) are all too universally recognisable.

But Dekalog is merely the highlight of a box set that compiles virtually all of Kieślowski’s television work, starting with his first professional short fiction film and continuing with four feature-length pieces that are in every way as probing and incisive as his better-known cinema films.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
4K restoration of all ten episodes, presented in their original broadcast aspect ratios
Original Polish mono soundtrack (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-rays), with optional English subtitles
Pedestrian Subway (1973, 29 mins), Kieślowski’s professional fiction debut, about a man trying to repair a failed marriage
First Love (1974, 52 mins), a docudrama about a teenage couple coping with an unwanted pregnancy
Personnel (1975, 67 mins), Kieślowski’s first feature-length fiction film, a partly autobiographical piece about a Warsaw theatre company
The Calm (1976, 82 mins), one of Kieślowski’s most powerful early films, about a man rebuilding his life in mid-70s Poland after a short prison sentence
Short Working Day (1981, 73 mins), Kieślowski’s study of a political strike, controversially told from the viewpoint of a Communist functionary trying to keep order
Krzysztof Kieślowski: Still Alive (2007), an affectionate 82-minute portrait of the director by his former student Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz, including interviews with dozens of friends and colleagues
Collector’s booklet featuring a lengthy essay on Dekalog and Kieślowski by Father Marek Lis, plus Kieślowski’s own intensely self-critical discussion of all the films in this set and Stanley Kubrick’s famous eulogy to Kieślowski and co-writer Krzysztof Piesiewicz
More extras in development!

DETAILS
Region: B/2
Rating: 15
Duration: 561 mins
Language: Polish
Subtitles: English
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1/1.66:1
Audio: Mono
Colour
Discs: 10
Directed by: Krzysztof Kieślowski
Starring: Krystyna Janda, Grażyna Szapołowska, Jerzy Stuhr
Format: Blu-ray/DVD
RRP £64.99 (£49.99 website price)
Barcode: 5027035015453
Cat Number: FCD1377