Themes and Motifs
In Trzeba zabić tę miłość (We Have to Kill This Love) the director skilfully shows not only the main story of the relationship of Magda and Andrzej, but also other kinds of emotional relationships. The ageing engineer, Magda’s father, is needlessly concerned with his physical insufficiencies, while Dzidzia, who has had bad experiences with irresponsible men, looks for certainty and support in her relationship with him. We learn about the easy, almost immoral relationship of the car repair shop owner and his wife, who remain friends, even though they openly cheat on each other. The film also shows the relationship between Andrzej and his boss’ wife, in which the young man’s body serves as a commodity. We also witness the story of the young surgeon’s affection for Magda, which is subtle and full of grace.
Additionally the film presents the relationship of man and dog. Thanks to this thread, which is almost as important as the main one, it was possible to create the elaborate construction of the movie and to make the symbolic scene which is included in the ending of the film.
The narrative frame, the thread about Himilsbach and the dog, is the best part of the movie. (…) Himilsbach plays a janitor of a storehouse with construction materials. He befriends a stray dog. Unfortunately the animal barks at the shady types, to whom its master sells cement off the record. Therefore the janitor decides to get rid of the dog. In the film, the thread about Himilsbach is silent and looks like a fairy tale or a parable. At the same time the story about the janitor and the dog seems to be drawn from life.
'Moja filmoteka. Kino polskie' (My Film Archive. Polish Cinema), Aleksander JackiewiczWarsaw, 1983
The dog loves its master, who has taken care of it and tamed it, the man loves the dog for its attachment, but he knows that he has to abandon it. The dog doesn’t want to leave, the man can’t think of a solution other than to kill the animal with an explosive charge. Because of the dog’s attachment the animal and the man die in the explosion together.
The last sequence of the film has a symbolic meaning. Magda comes to the conclusion that she can’t be in a relationship with someone who has no morals and she leaves Andrzej. As Magda makes Andrzej go away, behind the window, at the construction site, the storehouse explodes. The janitor and his dog are inside of the exploding building. During her conversation with Andrzej, Magda is watching a television programme showing the launch of a spacecraft. A countdown preceding a launch to the Moon has commenced. The subtext of this scene is that the time which separates the planting of the explosive device and the explosion is being counted down.
Janusz Głowacki said in a conversation with Barbara Wachowicz: somewhere there are rockets being launched to the Moon. There are countdowns – three, two, one, zero… In love there is also a time when you count down. From the highest level of emotional tension to zero. From rapture to indifference. From hope to resignation. The moment in which a space launch countdown reaches zero can be the beginning of a success. The counting down of the time of love ends with a zero.