A Short Film About Love

How this film uses it

Tomek watches Magda through a telescope, and the camera shows you exactly what he sees. You get pulled into the same act and start to feel how invasive it is. The film makes you ask why you were happy to look.

Where to see it

The telescope nights: Tomek watches Magda come home, work on her art and cry over another failed relationship. He saw it all from his godmother's apartment, and she did not know.

How this film uses it

The camera sits where Tomek sits, behind a lens and looking in at a lit window. Magda's rooms appear small and bright, like a stage, while his own side of the frame is dark. You feel like you are hiding in the dark with him.

Where to see it

The telescope views: the film cuts to what Tomek sees through the lens, with Magda framed in her window. She is far enough away to feel unreachable.

How this film uses it

For most of the film, Tomek looks and Magda is looked at. After he cuts his wrists and is taken to the hospital, she is the one who watches his window and waits for him to come back. The shift tells you that she has started to care.

Where to see it

The ending: Magda looks through Tomek's telescope toward her own apartment. She imagines what he saw on the night she came home weeping, and she imagines him there comforting her.

How this film uses it

Tomek's fixation shows up in his habits, not speeches. He phones her without speaking, slips fake money-order notices in her mailbox and takes the milk job so he can see her each morning. His routine tells you how much she fills his life.

Where to see it

The fake notices: Tomek keeps leaving postal notices for Magda about a money order that does not exist. When she argues with the postmistress, he follows her and confesses.