Generally speaking the work of Krzysztof Kieslowski can be divided into three sections: the first division is genre-based; short and full-length documentaries he made in Poland from 1966 to 1978, the second consists of his Polish fictive features from 1973 to 1989 and the third division is his international production 1991-1994: The Double Life of Veronique and The Three Colours trilogy. Przypadek or Blind Chance obviously locates in the second division: fictive Polish features. The twenty documentaries Kieslowski made played a huge role in his work, most of them were banned but they had their influence on people - mostly through illegal tracks. The documentaries by Kieslowski indicated his incredible talent to choose and delimit all which was expressing and essential in the subject. Even after he became world famous with his fictive features his heart belonged to documentaries (1979-1980).
It is very important to remember that Kieslowski made a lot of documentaries and the tremendous influence they had on the progression of his art. Krzysztof Kieslowski decided to make Blind Chance when he noticed that there was no accurate descriptions of what Poland was in the 1970's: "Not even in literature, even that it was much easier to produce than films because censorship didn't control it." He realized that he had came to a situation where he needed fiction to support 'pure documentary'. "Blind Chance isn't a description of the outside world as it is of the inside world. It is a description of the forces that guide our destiny, forces that push us to one direction or another." - Krzysztof Kieslowski.
Witek's father dies. Witek runs after a train to Warsaw and we are shown three different variations what might happen: First when he gets to the train he by chance becomes a member of the Communist Party, comes across with his first love who is now an underground activist. Witek falls in love but also "accidentally" informs the girl. In the second variation he misses the train by few seconds, runs into an officer and beats him up. He gets sentenced to community service where he meets a man fighting against the Party, who distributes illegal books. Witek meets his childhood friend and joins the underground. In the third variation Witek also misses the train by a few seconds; meets a woman he knows at the station to whom he falls in love with and gets married with. One day Witek accepts to help a friend of his and regardless of his wife's request travels to Warsaw. We see the plain getting off ground and blowing up in the air.
The character of Witek is quite interesting he is a very honest upstanding young man. He behaves forthright in every situation he comes across with, even when he joins the Party. At one moment when he realizes he should act like an arsehole he rebels and behaves forthright. Coincidence is the core of fiction - the heart of it which is very hard to achieve and most of the films that are too 'set-up' don't even get near it, and this is where the important part of documentaries comes in. Blind Chance gets into everything without forgetting the social circumstances of the time. Blind Chance is direct discussion about the structures that are falling apart, how can man believe in a thing which has been so destructive for him; but it also offers us an inside look at the Party.
Blind Chance is about the choices we meet each day that can end our days or change the direction of our lives completely; but yet we are totally unaware of these possibilities. "We never know where our destiny is hidden. We don't know what coincidence has got for us." This is how Kieslowski talks about his thoughts when making Blind Chance in his interview book Kieslowski on Kieslowski. The paradox of love and freedom was a leading theme throughout the work of Kieslowski but it culminates in The Three Colours trilogy (especially in Blue). With regards to this, Blind Chance can also be seen as a study of freedom, at one level: in the world of emotions we are quite free, we are able to make our own choices much more easily compared to social world where we are guided by coincidence. There are things that we just have to do, or things that we have to be. These two very different worlds, which collide each day are the two worlds Kieslowski studies in Blind Chance.
Pessimism was always the main color in Kieslowski's films and it is important to notice that Witek never gets a happy ending. When he is political and joins the Party, he loses his love and when he works for the underground, against the Party he also ruins everything up. Kieslowski has said that he is very unpolitical, it is obvious that humanism is the only true ideology for him. "The third variation, where the plane blows up means the most to me, because in one way or another it is the destiny of us all. No matter whether it happens in a plane or in our bed." - Krzysztof Kieslowski. To my mind the film shows that there is no destiny which leads us, there are certain things that delimit our freedom - which is an illusion to Kieslowski, but coincidence is the force that guides us. Just as in Fritz Lang's Destiny (1921) in Blind Chance the only inevitable destiny of us all is death.
It is very important to remember that Kieslowski made a lot of documentaries and the tremendous influence they had on the progression of his art. Krzysztof Kieslowski decided to make Blind Chance when he noticed that there was no accurate descriptions of what Poland was in the 1970's: "Not even in literature, even that it was much easier to produce than films because censorship didn't control it." He realized that he had came to a situation where he needed fiction to support 'pure documentary'. "Blind Chance isn't a description of the outside world as it is of the inside world. It is a description of the forces that guide our destiny, forces that push us to one direction or another." - Krzysztof Kieslowski.
Witek's father dies. Witek runs after a train to Warsaw and we are shown three different variations what might happen: First when he gets to the train he by chance becomes a member of the Communist Party, comes across with his first love who is now an underground activist. Witek falls in love but also "accidentally" informs the girl. In the second variation he misses the train by few seconds, runs into an officer and beats him up. He gets sentenced to community service where he meets a man fighting against the Party, who distributes illegal books. Witek meets his childhood friend and joins the underground. In the third variation Witek also misses the train by a few seconds; meets a woman he knows at the station to whom he falls in love with and gets married with. One day Witek accepts to help a friend of his and regardless of his wife's request travels to Warsaw. We see the plain getting off ground and blowing up in the air.
The character of Witek is quite interesting he is a very honest upstanding young man. He behaves forthright in every situation he comes across with, even when he joins the Party. At one moment when he realizes he should act like an arsehole he rebels and behaves forthright. Coincidence is the core of fiction - the heart of it which is very hard to achieve and most of the films that are too 'set-up' don't even get near it, and this is where the important part of documentaries comes in. Blind Chance gets into everything without forgetting the social circumstances of the time. Blind Chance is direct discussion about the structures that are falling apart, how can man believe in a thing which has been so destructive for him; but it also offers us an inside look at the Party.
Blind Chance is about the choices we meet each day that can end our days or change the direction of our lives completely; but yet we are totally unaware of these possibilities. "We never know where our destiny is hidden. We don't know what coincidence has got for us." This is how Kieslowski talks about his thoughts when making Blind Chance in his interview book Kieslowski on Kieslowski. The paradox of love and freedom was a leading theme throughout the work of Kieslowski but it culminates in The Three Colours trilogy (especially in Blue). With regards to this, Blind Chance can also be seen as a study of freedom, at one level: in the world of emotions we are quite free, we are able to make our own choices much more easily compared to social world where we are guided by coincidence. There are things that we just have to do, or things that we have to be. These two very different worlds, which collide each day are the two worlds Kieslowski studies in Blind Chance.
Pessimism was always the main color in Kieslowski's films and it is important to notice that Witek never gets a happy ending. When he is political and joins the Party, he loses his love and when he works for the underground, against the Party he also ruins everything up. Kieslowski has said that he is very unpolitical, it is obvious that humanism is the only true ideology for him. "The third variation, where the plane blows up means the most to me, because in one way or another it is the destiny of us all. No matter whether it happens in a plane or in our bed." - Krzysztof Kieslowski. To my mind the film shows that there is no destiny which leads us, there are certain things that delimit our freedom - which is an illusion to Kieslowski, but coincidence is the force that guides us. Just as in Fritz Lang's Destiny (1921) in Blind Chance the only inevitable destiny of us all is death.