Kieślowski’s Film World Seen through Documentary: Focusing on Hospital, Seven Women of Different Ages and Dworzec

Polish film director Krzysztof Kieślowski has directed twenty-one documentaries. His films, which have consistently offered insights into “human” and ontological concerns, began with documentaries. Kieślowski employed his unique ethical sensibility in his move from pure documentary to feature film, and even in his feature films portrays an essential, poignant and detailed portrait of what it means to be “human”. In his early works, Kieślowski explored aspects of ordinary people's lives against the background of the political situation in Poland. In his feature films, he paints a portrait of an essential “human” with whom people can universally sympathize; these are not just stories of Polish people, but of Europe. In this study, the director’s film world is analyzed focusing on three of Kieślowski’s documentary films: Hospital (Szpital), Seven Women of Different Ages (Siedem kobiet w różnym wieku), and Central Station (Dworzec). In particular, by examining the techniques of Kieślowski’s three later documentary films, this study investigates the trajectory of his film world just prior to his shift into feature film. Hospital follows orthopedic surgeons for thirty-two hours through their point-of-view, revealing how they retained their humanity even in the harshest conditions. In Seven Women of Different Ages, the lives of seven ballerinas of different ages are sequentially shown during the course of one week. In Central Station, a surveillance camera, the story of the man behind it, and the ordinary people he watches are captured with the director’s unique, sharp perspective. This study also looks into why Kieślowski felt the need to shift from the documentary genre to feature films, concluding that the director’s will to portray what it means to be “human” could be more freely represented in feature films over documentaries.