Romek's Theme: The Violin in Kieślowski's film Personel Lisa Di Bartolomeo

The role of music, both diegetic and non-diegetic, often assumes a thematic and expressive role in the films of Krzysztof Kieślowski. This paper will briefly examine the significance of sound and music in an early Kieślowski film, Personnel, (1975) in which the strains of a lone violin provide a positive emblem for the Artist. The film itself explores the gradual disillusionment of a young man whose dreams of artistic creation soon become overshadowed by the banal reality of theatre production and the pettiness of those involved. The violin stands alone in representing his continued hope for the purity and meaning of art, even in the face of low politics.