I guess every genius is entitled to one blunder....

So I gushed here and here about the genius of Kieslowski's Decalogue parts 1-3. Sara and I rented parts 4-7 from Netflix awhile ago, and it took some gumption to actually get around to watching them-- despair and moral crises in urban Warsaw isn't the most invigorating thing to watch after a long day at work. Judging by the first three installments, I thought we'd be in for another masterpiece with part 4; yet we were instead forced to cringe our way through the longest hour of our lives. Kieslowski's penchant for plumbing man's depths gets away from him a little here-- he digs so deep that he finds madness instead of conflict and crisis. Part 4 features a mentally ill girl who believes she's found evidence that the father who raised her has no biological relation to her, developing a disturbing Electra complex on him. It's hard to identify with a character who should be institutionalized, and Kieslowski's sophisticated style in the first three installments devolves into a cheap lighting display designed to force an emotional response in the fourth. I guess everyone is entitled to a stinker. Both Sara and I hold out high hopes for parts 5-7.