varied that it creates a desirable ambiguity, one in
which viewers are required to reach their own con-
clusions about the moral issues at hand. For example,
Krzysztof Kieslowski’s The Decalogue(1989; cine-
matographer: Slawomir Idziak; art director: Ewa
Smal) is composed of ten one-hour films, each of
which is devoted to a contemporary interpretation
of one of the biblical commandments. The film pays
particular attention to the point of view of the camera
that visually narrates each of the stories. Kies-
lowski, a Catholic who experienced the Communist-
controlled Poland of the 1960s and 1970s, was not
overtly religious and thus he does not espouse any
particular doctrinal interpretation of the command-
ments, leaving interpretation to the viewer.
Thou Shalt Not Kill(1990), the fifth film, is perhaps
the most demanding of the series, both because it
deals with a murder so random and horrifying that it
provokes our strongest moral outrage and because
Kieslowski’s approach to the framing, which employs
both traditional and innovative techniques, createsthe sense of a coldly “objective” perspective on the
crime even as it reveals subjective points of view.
Kieslowski achieves this effect by shooting the
actors and settings from a variety of angles, using a
very close framing so that we become intimate with
all of the characters, and shifting the camera’s point
of view so that, for example, as the murder is about
to take place, we see shots of the murderer coiling a
rope around his fist while drinking a cup of coffee
and flirting with two young girls, hailing a taxi, star-
ing at the driver’s face in the rearview mirror, calmly
looking out the window, and then murdering the
driver. In other words, we see (1) the murderer’s
objective actions as observed by the camera, as if it
were a documentary movie, including his garroting
the driver, bludgeoning him, and dragging him to
the riverside, where he smashes his face with a rock;
(2) facial expressions that reveal some of the mur-
derer’s subjective thoughts; and (3) reaction shots of
the driver as he picks up the passenger, discusses a
change of route that leads him onto a deserted road1 2
Composition and mise-en-scène Two shots from
William Wyler’s The Best Years of Our Lives(1946; art
directors: Perry Ferguson and George Jenkins) illustrate the
relationship between composition and mise-en-scène. In the
movie, the lives of three veterans are intertwined, and
triangular compositions reinforce that theme visually. [1]
Early in the film, Fred Derry (Dana Andrews, top), Al
Stephenson (Fredric March, lower right), and Homer Parrish
(Harold Russell, lower left) return home after serving inWorld War II. Their tight physical grouping in the nose of a
bomber reflects the tight emotional bond that they have only
recently established. [2] Much later, a similar tripoint pattern
establishes a different relationship among the men. Here, a
shot in Butch’s bar has Derry using the phone in the
background with a noticeable gap between Stephenson and
Parrish, reflecting the new and estranged relationship. Time
has changed their lives, and the same old patterns have
different meanings within the larger context.COMPOSITION 203