A peeping Tom scenario turns into a psychosexual mind game in this installment in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s 10-part series of short films based on the 10 Commandments. Early on, we get a parallel sequence of violation, as Kieslowski intercuts between 19-year-old Tomek (Olaf Lubaszenko) breaking into a school to steal a telescope and shots of Tomek later using that telescope to spy on Magda (Grazyna Szapolowska), the older woman who lives in the apartment building across the way. Yet just as we come to see Magda as the victim, she turns the tables on Tomek – and us. Decalogue VI is an oblique consideration of the Command to “not commit adultery,” considering Magda isn’t married. She is promiscuous, however – or, as Tomek’s friend puts it, “she spreads it around.” Magda later says that she doesn’t believe in love, which may be why she tends to use sex as a weapon. When she takes aim at Tomek, the results are disastrous, and the moral balance of the film shifts. In the end, Decalogue VI seems less interested in labeling its characters, however, than in recognizing that sex – no matter how casual – still carries a psychological/spiritual weight.
