Kieslowski and the iconic image

There is something that I am interested in and I have so far failed to mention. This is the iconic look or pose, seen in both Tarkovsky, and especially Kieslowski.
At a certain moment actor breaks the fourth wall, and looks right into the camera.
You can see this moment in almost all of Kieslowski's later films.
An example, in Blue. It is the day of the funeral of her husband and daughter. Julie burying herself beneath the covers of her hospital bed, watches the proceedings on a small television. She runs her fingers across the image of her daughter's small coffin. In extreme closeup, the edges of her mouth turn up. Some tears flow. Then the television goes blank, and Juliet Binoche looks directly at us. A picture of grief. It is most uncomfortable, so boldly addressing us in this way.
If I was at film school and did such a thing I would probably fail. And to be fair, it is not something to be done without good reason.
In my research I have been reading The Films of Krzystztof Kieslowski, by Joseph Kickasola, which discusses this motif in some detail.
Kieslowski chooses his moments, when the "metaphysical weight of the scene warrants reflection". We are forced to become involved.
Kickasola goes on to discuss the source of the iconic pose in Kieslowski's Catholic heritage, the religious icon painting. (Of course Tarkovsky not only used the iconic pose, he told the story of one of the greatest icon painters, Andrey Rublev - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrey_Rublev)

[The icon plays] an intermediary role...between the perciever and God.... [At] the heart of this image is a new sprirtual dimension that...opens up for the viewer by directly engaging him or her in a visual look. It functions as an arrest of the passive, voyeuristic mode of the spectator.

So why might my story justify the iconic pose?
In each story I am interested in that moment when the characters recognise where they have succeeded or failed. Sophie has overcomes fear, sets herself adrift. Claire knows she will never change, will never be able to give herself. Paul understands he has been defeated by chance, crushed, and worse, it is not personal. Each of these moments is about their relationship to the universe. They see where they stand.
Am I justified? I shall see.