French Literature Reviews - 2026
Y. Vaillancourt, Jeux interdits. Essai sur le Décalogue de Kieślowski
Art and Visual Culture
Yves VAILLANCOURT, Jeux interdits. Essai sur le Décalogue de Kieslowski
Co-published by Presses de l'Université Laval / Hermann, non-series, to be published on May 15, 2014
EAN13 : 9782705673239
130 p. - €15
Publisher's overview:
Krzysztof Kieślowski's (1941–1996) Decalogue is a landmark work in contemporary cinema. This series of ten films illustrates how human beings break taboos and why doing so consigns their endeavors to failure. Guided by the intuition that each film is built upon a mimetic structure, Yves Vaillancourt demonstrates that the characters in the Decalogue—much like people in everyday life—imitate one another. Thus, in a secular world such as ours, moral messages no longer descend from the heavens but emerge from the mirror effects of human interactions concerning prohibition.
Yves Vaillancourt offers here a deeply sensitive exercise in philosophy, guiding readers and cinephiles toward those rare moments when humans open themselves to the mysterious and demanding revelation of the good. Although not a believer, he eloquently argues that the Decalogue is one of those works that grant access to the mystery commonly known as the sacred.
Author biography:
Yves Vaillancourt is a writer, photographer, and professor of philosophy. He has published both novels and philosophical works. This essay stems from the emotional impact he experienced upon viewing A Short Film About Killing (1988), followed by a prolonged reflection on the source of the Decalogue's profound and unsettling power.
Krzysztof Kieślowski's Decalogue is a work in contemporary cinema. This series of ten films illustrates how human beings break taboos and why doing so consigns their endeavors to failure. In a secular world, moral messages emerge from the mirror effects of human interactions concerning prohibition. Readers interested in the intersection of film studies and moral philosophy may find this analysis of the series' internal structures relevant.
Yves Vaillancourt demonstrates that the characters in the Decalogue imitate one another. The essay examines the mimetic structure of the films and reflects on the source of the Decalogue's power. It explores how moral messages emerge from human interactions and addresses the work's relationship to the mystery commonly known as the sacred.