Though I have stolen nothing, I must restore it: The Black Madonna

The Black Madonna told Kieslowski to go to the Bible and to read Psalm 69 one night when he was dreaming. He did. This is how he got the idea for the movie.

This is what Psalm 69 says:

Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.

I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing--[Kieslowski loved this reference to sinking in deep mire where there is no standing; for the concept of standing is juridical and he knew that the Black Madonna referred to the USA, which never had any standing at all in international law, and, thus always sinks into deep mire.];

I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God.

Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; they are mighty who would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully; thought I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it."

Those were the words that the Black Madonna told Kieslowski to focus on: "Though I have stolen nothing, I must restore it."

The restoration of the unstolen to the unforgiven and those who will remain at the end of time as the unforgiven comes through the theme of anonymity as a form of charity, which is also a biblical theme.

For example, the main character gives the ultimate sacrifice as an artist by actually being the composer, but giving her husband all of the credit.

She is completely there, but completely in hiding throughout the movie.

Her mother has dementia and forgets Juliet's name. (Juliet is the main character.) She calls her by another name.

There are other examples of this name misrecognition in the movie that link the theme of anonymity to the theme of the restoration of the stolen by she who has taken nothing and has only to give.

The Black Madonna told Kieslowski that at the end of time, it is true that, as Jesus reports in the sermon on the Mount, the meek shall inherit the earth and the last shall be first. The meek shall inherit the earth because there will be nothing left on it of worth to inherit. Especially no water. That is why the film is called Blue. That is also why the film Rouge ends with a capsized boat and The Double Life of Veronica contains the death of Veronica after she sings lines from Dante's Divine Comedy about a boat that sings and sways and has no real course to follow.

The last shall be first on earth and shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Those in power in the final days will not enter the Kingdom after the final days.

All that they inherit is the desolation of the unforgiven and what Anonymous must restore with no name. And they perish in eternal fire. The unforgiven, that is, the children of the restoration, perish in condemnation and without prayer.