The Decalogue (Dekalog)

Excuse me

Yes?

I'd like to return my book of registration

Aren't you going to appeal? This is your last year

"No, expelled is expelled"

Ten pages are missing

"I tore them out, they concerned the" exams during the last two semesters

What country are you going to?

Canada

To your family?

"No, acquaintances"

This is your passport

But if you want to take the child with "you, you'll need the mother's consent"

"I know, I just wanted to check" whether the passport's ready

It is

I think I'd better collect my own passport and provide that consent the next time

You'll get the passport straight away then

Ania!

Ania! Ania!

Go away

Ania dear... Get out of here

Mother...

You don't know how to hush her Get out!

"Ania baby, it's all right, Ania"

What happened? Dreamt of wolves?

Hasn't Mummy told you there aren't any wolves?

Ania... There aren't "It's all right now, isn't it?"

It's all right "Now you're going to sleep, O.K.?"

My dearest little one

Dad...

I can't stand it

"There, there, Majka"

"You used to cry like this, too," when you were a baby

But why does she tell her about wolves?

I believe you're to be up early

"There, there..."

Listen

Ania

Ania

"You're free, Princess"

How did that magic spell go? "Do you remember, children?"

Abrakadabra...

May the cave open!

You're all invited to the wedding party!

"Are we hiding, Majka?"

"No, we're running away"

Shall we play a trick on Mummy?

I have no coat

I've brought it with me

Madam? A child's disappeared

My daughter...

"Christ, don't you understand?" My child's gone...

Ania

Shall we have a ride?

On what?

Look

Have you kidnapped me?

What?

You've kidnapped me Like in that book

"You're a big girl now, aren't you?"

Mummy says I am

Exactly

Now look at me...

"You see,"

Mummy isn't your mother

And I have no mother at all?

"Oh yes, you have"

Your real mother

"You see, I am your mother"

"Yes, we have"

"Even two... Yes, two tents" and two mattresses

Majka went to the Bleszczady Mountain An excursion from the University

"Phone next week, O.K.? I believe" someone's just entered the flat

Ania? Ania...

Ewa? Ewa...

You...

It's Ania...

She disappeared

What is it?

"I must go to the toilet, Majka"

"All right, go" I'll be on the look out

Is it her?

"Yes, she's rather excited" That's why she has to pee

What do you want?

May we come in?

What do you want?

I took her with me and ran away from home

"You ran away, and?"

Hi

Hi

A lot has changed

So it has We haven't seen each other for

"Father died, three years ago"

And you?

""Teddy bear maker""

I made teddy bears

What happened to your former plans? "The University, the things you wrote?"

I gave it up

What about this?

What anything to eat? Or maybe some tea?

She's asleep

Perhaps I'd better take her to bed?

"No, she's happy" Just look at her

Do you still remember me?

No

I paid a lot for it But it's all right now

Do they know?

No

I picked her up at the theatre

Mother was running about like crazy Stumbled against a step

Nearly fell down the stairs

Why are you speaking of her like this?

You should be glad to hear it?

It started some time ago I think I hate her

"You haven't changed, or maybe" there are just the two extreme

Just the two

"For today, the situation is that I took" "Ania with me, I won't give her back"

I first thought about it some three or four years ago

I'm not a good girl in a drak-blue skirt anymore

The girl who fell in love with her Polish teacher...

just because what he said was different

You still have lots of chances

You haven't stolen anything or killed anybody

Is it possible to steal your own property?

I don't know

I guess not

This means I haven't stolen anything

That's a fact

"Yeah, and as for killing"

"Yes, I think I could kill her"

It isn't much that you know about your mother

I've only just learned quite recently

What?

Why she's like that

"After I was born,"

she could have no more children This means it was because of me in a way

But she always wanted children I know that

"And then, when Ania was born" "You see, this does explain a thing or two"

"There was another person, too" "who agreed to that arrangement, you"

I was only sixteen then

Jeanne d'Arc hadn't been much older

You said that before

They said they meant well I should finish school and so on

It's only now that I know they were really after the baby

"And there was that scandal at school, too" "She was the headmistress,"

"I was a young teacher, and you went" to that same school

But you mattered most

The moment you ought to have said you wanted "that baby to be ours, you said nothing"

I couldn't

You couldn't?

"You were involved, too"

"Mother said, "If you don't want" "trouble for seducing a minor,"

if you want still to be a teacher

"...keep quiet" Am I right?

Is that what she told you?

I overheard her say that to Father "It's just like her, you knew she'd do it"

She said it to your father?

Yes

Was she lying?

To be frank...

I never though this could be arranged like that in Poland:

That your own child is officially registered as somebody else's...

Of course it can be arranged

All it takes is a doctor you know He did not know what he was doing

I usually take a nap in the afternoon An hour or so

"O.K., take it"

There's no reason why you should change your routine

Now I think it's good she agreed then

"This way, I have my peace"

Yes

And I won't trouble you too long

Are you going away?

"Yes, I'm making an excursion" "to Romania, in summer"

"Let me see your passport, it's a long" since I've seen such a document

Here

What's this?

A certificate stating that I gave birth to a baby six years ago

What about your mother? Is she willing to give you the girl back?

Mother?

"Yes, mother"

She'll have to

You'd never believe it

I never knew she could be so tender and loving

She never gave that to me

Let me tell you something

Something that I should never tell to anybody

When Ania was still a baby "about six months old, she was..."

I returned from a holiday camp

...somewhat earlier than planned They always send me to such camps then

"Well, I came back..."

I saw Mother feeding Ania

"So what? It's normal, isn't it?"

"No, she was breast-feeding"

Why...

She had no

"But she gave suck to Ania," and Ania sucked

She won't let you go now

What happened?

"Nothing, I just cut my finger"

It won't hurt anymore