Elise: The Decalogue

"Honor thy Father and thy Mother" I certainly had NO idea where this decalogue episode was going with the commandment. It was a startling film, to say the least. I felt very uncomfortable with multiple scenes and the overall plot. The ending continued with the trend of uncertainty, leaving the viewer, I can only imagine, at the same place as Kieslowski was when he began to write it (per his intention).

What bothers me the most is that I don't think a clear conclusion was reached between the "father" and "daughter." I don't think we can infer from the film how their relationship resolved. Did they even know? Although yes, she did call him "daddy" when she thought he was leaving, it didn't negate everything she had said the night before. It didn't nullify everything he had admitted to either. And they burned the letter. I don't understand. I can see why they would "not want to know" whether or not he was the father IF they had a normal relationship and he loved her as a daughter and therefore didn't care if she was or was not his biological daughter. If it didn't matter, I can understand why they would have chosen not to know.

But it did matter.

Knowing the truth made a huge difference in this case.

They both admitted to having these strange feelings for each other, and expressing them didn't make them okay nor did it make them not okay. As it appeared to me, they were still at an uncertain place, and I think that knowing the truth could have helped their situation. To make matter worse, however, they didn't fully burn the letter! What the heck?! If they really didn't want to know, they should have burned it completely. But it did matter. So instead, they left just enough to read aloud, "My darling daughter, I have something important to tell you. Michal isn't..." And their relationship, as well as the ending, is shrouded in uncertainty.