‘First Love’ and the dramaturgy of the real. Krzysztof Kieślowski.

Krzysztof Kieślowski knew he was going to become a documentary film-maker close to his graduation from the Łódź Film School. He had already directed three documentary shorts (1966–1969) before he finished writing his Master’s thesis in 1969 — an artist’s manifesto of sorts, titled ‘Film Dokumentalny a Rzeczywistość’ (‘Documentary Film and Reality’) that proclaimed a revitalisation of the genre, a departure from shooting films based on established patterns in favour of taking a step closer to reality. ‘A wonderful, abundant and limitless reality, where nothing is repeated, when you do not have a retake. We do not need to worry about its course, each day it will surprise us with new, unexpected scenes. It is reality itself, and this is not a paradox, that is the right solution for the documentary film. You just have to believe in it completely, trust its dramaturgy, the dramaturgy of the real.’¹ He dubbed his method of documentary film-making as the dramaturgy of the real. The method centered on the selection of a subject-event with its own inherent dramaturgy, a driving force propelling the dramatic structure of a documentary film forward. Kieślow ski devoted a lot of time and effort drafting a concept for a documentary film about a man who wins a million zlotys in a lottery. He deemed this very event, the situation when someone suddenly gains a fortune, an example of dramaturgy already present in reality that gives one’s life a powerful momentum. It doesn’t matter if the lucky guy splurges on silly things or increases his wealth. What matters is the certainty of the documentary film-maker that real life itself would offer a series of dramaturgic scenes unfolding in an order that would lay foundations for his future film if he continues to capture the guy’s life from the moment he collects his reward onwards. The film ‘Milion’ (‘Million’) was never made for objective reasons. At that time, it was against the Polish law to reveal the identity of a lottery winner to the film-makers, and thus the general public. Nonetheless, Kieślowski continued to seek out a subject that would support the argument presented in his theses ‘Documentary Film and Reality.’ He came up with the idea of making a documentary about a pregnant teenager. Originally titled ‘Dziecko’ (‘The Baby’), the film was made ultimately under the title ‘Pierwsza Miłość’ (‘First Love’) in 1974. In this case, the real-life dramatic mechanism was the pregnancy of a minor, culminating in the birth and first few weeks of a newborn’s life. Kieślowski believed that all that was yet to happen in the life of the young woman preparing to give birth to a child would provide the film with the scenes arranged in a dramaturgical order. And arrange they did, but not without an element of surprise. The girl he chose to film turned out to have a partner. As a result, ‘First Love’ told the story of a couple of teenagers and future parents. Annette Insdorf states the following: ‘Despite the title, ”First Love,” is hardly a romantic film. Instead of presenting images of desire, courtship, or erotic contact, it documents how a pregnant seventeen-year-old and her boyfriend officially become a couple. We meet Jadwiga in the office of a doctor who warns her that an abortion would be too dangerous. Roman is introduced during a medical exam for military service. If we were expecting kisses and dates, Kieślowski shifts us to the reality of bureaucracy and compromise.’² ‘First Love’ was an artistic triumph, the concept of a dramaturgy of reality corroborated in real life. Kieślowski decided to take it one step further and pitched an idea for the documentary film ‘Horoskop’ (‘Horoscope’) to the television. He intended to film the couple portrayed in ‘First Love’ for the next 20 years, suspecting that the film would culminate in the day their daughter would become a mother herself. He started shooting. The young parents were facing a serious marital crisis. Then they moved to a new apartment, away from their in-laws, owing to the director’s efforts. Crisis was averted, but Kieślowski experienced doubt. Was it allowed to film and influence other people’s lives, even for their own good? He stopped the shoot. The tapes were archived. ‘I  remember well a scene from ”First Love”: a boy, after his daughter was born, simply burst out crying. After that, I thought, do I have a right to film this, or not? Certainly, he would have also burst out crying if I was not there. I  came to the conclusion that I must not be there with a camera. This is the main reason why I stopped making documentary films,’ Kieślowski said after many years.³ Krzysztof Wierzbicki, the director’s assistant on ‘First Love,’ found the film’s protagonists decades later and went with a camera to Canada, where they lived. He shot ‘Horoscope’ (2000), which confirms Kieślowski’s initial prediction from 1974. Ewa — the girl we saw being born in ‘First Love’ — did have a daughter when she was 20 years old. Once again, the reality lent the dramaturgy to the film. 

DRAFT OF A SCRIPT FOR A TV DOCUMENTARY 

“The Baby” Krzysztof Kieślowski

Translated by Kate Webster

The protagonist of this film will be chosen from a group of girls who moved to the city from a small town or village, or who have been living in the city for a long time but don’t feel supported by their family. 

The girl met a boy, and disaster struck. She’s pregnant. Having a baby will complicate the girl’s life. It will complicate her relationships at work, in the place where she lives, it’ll obliterate her longed-for and much-valued independence. We start filming at the stage where there’s no turning back — the baby must be born. 

We will film by simply accompanying the protagonist, interfering as little as possible in the course of events. 

My initial thought is to split the events into four sequences or scenes:

Before the birth, at the hospital, after the birth, and stabilisation of the situation. 

Each part will be dominated by a different mood, atmosphere and rhythm. The scenes will be connected by various problems: institutional care for a young, single mother, the issue of the father and its possible resolution, the difficulties facing a pregnant woman before and after the birth and the chances of solving them, and the issue of responsibility for a new human being — both for the girl and, more broadly, for society. 

Before the Birth

We see the girl shortly before she gives birth. Perhaps we hear a conversation with her boyfriend, the baby’s father. We find out how she’s dealing with the issue that’s so important to all our lives. We hear what the doctor says at her workplace clinic. How her supervisors, the foreman and the HR manager respond to the news. What she’s told by the social organisations to whom she might turn for help. What practical support she’s offered by the institutions who are meant to help people like her. 

And then, the girl’s family and friends. The people who she hopes will offer her the kind words she so desperately needs. In this scene, the girl will be bewildered and anxious — having counted on everything somehow working out, then realising she needs to take care of everything herself. The rhythm of this scene will be the same — fast-paced, full of events and decisions. The girl in a number of different situations, sounds almost to the max.

The Hospital 

Now the rhythm slows down. A mood of expectation, reflective, unique, where total equality reigns — they’ve all got babies.

That’s from one perspective. But from another, conversations through the window with husbands, fiancés, presents, flowers, oranges. Who will come to see our protagonist to tell her they’ve bought blue babygrows? Her friend? Her sister? Or no one? So, not total equality. Uneventful evenings, faces lost in thought. The cry of a baby in the night. 

After the Birth 

What will the girl do now, she and her bundle of joy? The doors of the family home are closed to her (potential scene — an attempt to appeal to her mother, to convince her father); the workers’ hostel, or a lodging-house where the other residents don’t want her or her child. Maybe she considers the orphanage? Maybe a forgotten aunt or grandmother? Searching for another room, trying to keep the baby with her, or a nursery right away. These short, specific actions and, in contrast, moments with the baby, still very young. Whether the mechanisms of biological attachment and love kick in right away.

Watch him sleeping. Like her. Helpless. 

And she’s looking for a place for the two of them. Another attempt to reach an agreement with her boyfriend, the baby’s father. Appointments with doctors and nurses, childcare. Help, the need to find an institution, agency or organisation that will help. Tiredness. Periods of fast, short action and longer, quiet reflection. 

Stabilisation of the Situation 

The gradual normalisation of life. The mechanism of daily activities. The child is at nursery, she’s at work. Getting into a rhythm and knowing that it will stay this way. Signs of humanity in the child. The girl calming down, the rhythm calming down. Moments of joy for the girl — she’s reconciled with her parents and they’re coming to visit, someone points out the resemblance between the baby’s tiny face and her own, the family resemblance, a guy smiles at her on the tram, the girl pushing her baby’s pram on Sunday in the park, in the woods, where she can sunbathe. The baby’s teeth are coming through and he’s smiling at the girl.

It all means so much now!

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The Krzysztof Kieślowski Archives in Sokołowsko is a project run by the In Situ Contemporary Art Foundation, the aim of which is to acquire, digitise, pro tect and disseminate archival resources related to the work of one of the most outstanding European directors. ATKK could not have been created without the substantive help and trust that Maria Kieślowska bestowed on the Foundation by donating materials from the family archives. It is on this basis that in Sokołowsko, the headquarters of the Foundation, this living archive of memory and the director’s legacy was created and developed — a laboratory for meetings with the cinema and the creative attitude of the author of the ‘Three Colors’ trilogy. The intention of the Foundation is to create the only place in the world and on the Internet that comprehensively collects, stores, researches and disseminates archives related to Krzysztof Kieślowski. The Krzysztof Kieślowski Archives are located in Sokołowsko. He lived here with his parents and sister in 1951–1957. There was already a cinema in Sokołowsko that influenced the life of the future director. Roman Kieślowski, the director’s father, who suffered from tuberculosis, received treatment in the town with a long spa tradition in the treatment of lung diseases. Kieślowski returned to his memories in the documentary ‘X-ray.’

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1. Krzysztof Kieślowski, ‘Documentary Film and Reality,’ translated by Natalia Nieć [in:] ‘Theory of Practice. Kieślowski, Łoziński, Wiszniewski, Królikiewicz, Żebrowski,’ edited by Katarzyna Mąka-Malatyńska, Łódź Film School, Łódź, p. 30.

2. Annette Insdorf, ‘Double Lives, Second Chances. The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieślowski,’ Hyperion, New York, 1999, p. 23.

3. Krzysztof Kieślowski [in:] ‘Fragments of the Meeting at the Ósmego Dnia Theater,’ edited by Marek Hendrykowski and Mikołaj Jazdon [in:] ‘Krzysztof Kieślowski. Interviews,’ edited by Renata Bernard and Steven Woodward, University Press of Mississipi, Jackson 2016, p.181.