Dekalog comprises ten hour-long films, loosely based on the Ten Commandments. The stories are set around the same modern Warsaw apartment block and focus on the complexities of human relationships. The themes are the universal ones of love, marriage, infidelity, parenthood, guilt, faith and compassion. The result is a unique look at the various moral dilemmas faced by ordinary people in their daily lives.

Dekalog I
Krzysztof Kieślowski
1988 | 53 min | Colour | Digital

I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other God but Me

A university professor and his 10 year old son Pawel run their lives on their home computer. While Pawel’s aunt worries that his spiritual education is being neglected, the father’s trust in reason and scientific method is confronted by the unpredictability of fate.

Dekalog II
Krzysztof Kieślowski
1988 | 57 min | Colour | Digital

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain

An elderly doctor is approached by a woman with a complicated request. Her husband is gravely ill and may die, and she is pregnant by someone else. If her husband dies, she wants to keep the child, but not otherwise, and she wants the doctor to give him an honest verdict on his chances.

Dekalog III
Krzysztof Kieślowski
1988 | 56 min | Colour | Digital

Honour the Sabbath day

On Christmas Eve a taxi driver honours the traditions of the day, gives presents to his family and attends Midnight Mass. Later, his former lover Ewa asks him to help her find her missing husband. Should he stay home to keep the day holy? Or is it his duty to help Ewa?

Dekalog IV
Krzysztof Kieślowski
1988 | 55 min | Colour | Digital

Honour thy father and thy mother

Anka is a young drama student who has a close relationship with her widowed father. When he goes on a trip abroad Anka finds a letter revealing that he may not in fact be her real father.

Dekalog V
Krzysztof Kieślowski
1988 | 57 min | Colour | Digital

Thou shalt not kill

A young man brutally murders a taxi driver and is in turn hanged by the state. Graphically filmed in harrowing detail, Dekalog 5 was originally shown as the extended feature-length film A Short Film About Killing which was named Best Film at the European Film Awards in 1988, as well as winning the Jury Prize at Cannes and the Golden Lion at Gdansk.

Dekalog VI
Krzysztof Kieślowski
1988 | 58 min | Colour | Digital

Thou shalt not commit adultery

Tomek is a nineteen-year-old orphan, living with the mother of a friend and working at the local post office. He has been observing an attractive woman in her thirties, Magda, and fallen in love with her. As observations turn to spying and ultimately obsession, so Magda becomes obsessed with Tomek. Originally released as the feature A Short Film About Love.

Dekalog VII
Krzysztof Kieślowski
1988 | 55 min | Colour | Digital

Thou shalt not steal

A young woman abducts her own child, who has been raised by her parents as her sister. She then finds herself emotionally unable to cope with the responsibility, while the stable and loving family that brought the child up are distraught.

Dekalog VIII
Krzysztof Kieślowski
1988 | 55 min | Colour | Digital

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour

A Holocaust survivor confronts an ethics professor who once refused to help her on the basis of this commandment. The story was based on an experience of the filmmakers' mutual friend, the journalist Hanna Krall.

Dekalog IX
Krzysztof Kieślowski
1988 | 58 min | Colour | Digital

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife

Roman, a successful heart surgeon learns that his sexual dysfunction problems are permanent and incurable. He urges his wife to take a lover. She reluctantly complies, and Roman, despite his earlier words, becomes obsessively jealous.

Dekalog X
Krzysztof Kieślowski
1988 | 57 min | Colour | Digital

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s goods

The series concludes with Kieslowski’s black comedy about a pair of brothers who inherit their father’s stamp collection. Having no knowledge of stamps, even resenting their father’s hobby, they give away the most expensive set before realising its worth, and then try to get it back.