Agony Quote by Krzysztof Kieślowski
““Regardless of the subject of my films … I am looking for a way of evoking in audiences feelings similar to my own: the physically painful impotence and sorrow that assail me when I see a man weeping at the bus stop, when I observe people struggling vainly to get close to others, when I see someone eating up the left-overs in a cheap restaurant, when I see the first blotches on a woman's hand and know that she too is bitterly aware of them, when I see the kind of appalling and irreparable injustice that so visibly scars the human face. I want this pain to come across to my audience, to see this physical agony, which I think I am beginning to fathom, to seep into my work.””
About This Quote
Source Interview: Filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1995 on artistic intent
He seeks to convey personal anguish and social injustice through film, aiming to evoke empathy and awareness of human suffering.
In simple terms: He wants his movies to make viewers feel his pain and see injustice.
Key Takeaway
Use art to reveal hidden suffering.
Themes
art
empathy
social justice
Mood
somber
reflective
Type
philosophical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- documentary filmmaking
- social activism
- theatre
- visual storytelling
Key Concepts
human condition
pain
inequality
cinematic expression
Questions to Reflect On
- How can viewers transform empathy into action?
- What responsibilities do artists have when portraying suffering?
A Different Perspective
Audiences may feel overwhelmed or helpless.
![“Or take this girl, for example. At a meeting just outside Paris, a fifteen-year-old girl came up to me and said that she'd been to see [The Double Life of] Véronique. She'd gone once, twice, three times and only wanted to say one thing really - that she realized that there is such a thing as a…” quote by Krzysztof Kieślowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/791/krzysztof-kieslowski-12116_audience_or-take-this-girl-for-example-at-a-meeti_232435.jpg)
![“[on Rouge] This is a film about communication that disappears. We have better and better tools and less and less communication with each other. We only exchange information.” quote by Krzysztof Kieślowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/dc9/krzysztof-kieslowski-12116_cinema_on-rouge-this-is-a-film-about-communicat_718757.jpg)
![“[W]e must learn to accommodate ourselves to the discovery that some of those cunningly-fashioned instruments called human souls have only a very limited range of music, and will not vibrate in the least under a touch that fills others with tremulous rapture or quivering agony.” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9be/george-eliot-84_agony_w-e-must-learn-to-accommodate-ourselves_12409.jpg)
