Now that Halloween is over, we can talk about less intense films. I wanted to briefly touch on Krzysztof Kieślowski’s most commercially successful films. Unlike other directors who may have turned in less than spectacular works in their later years, Kieślowski’s final four films are a masterclass in filmmaking and cinema storytelling. These are some of the most beautifully shot and framed films I’ve ever seen. I had previously owned the MiraMax DVD collection, but eventually upgraded to Criterion Bluray.

The Double Life of Veronique (1991)

The Double Life of Veronique (1991)

The first of the four film is a 1991 drama called La double vie de Véronique and starring Irène Jacob, playing two roles. She plays a Polish choir soprano (Weronika) and also a French music teacher (Véronique). They don’t know each other, but somehow, their lives crossed each other when one of the Veronica died.

There’s a little mystery with receiving packages and various characters enters Veronique’s life, but that’s not what is interesting, at least to me. What I find fascinating are the various themes that runs throughout Kieślowski’s films. For example, Weronika sees an old woman in the street. In later the Blue and Red film, you see the same old woman in two different scenes. There are different working theories on the old woman and what she represents. The best one I’ve heard (not my theory) is that they represent their future selves. This makes the most sense, because the main character in White is a man, and we see an old man, not an old woman, in the street.

If you’re not a film student or foreign movie fan (there’s no dubbing, it’s all subtitles), these films can be a bit of a drag for you. It’s long, it takes its time, and it is real life. Sometime that’s just life, a little boring sometimes.

Of all of Kieslowski’s films, The Double Life of Veronique is my personal favorite. It had won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, and got Irene Jacob the Best Actress award for her role. While the other films all have their color association – for Veronique, it seems that the main color theme is yellow or gold.

Blue (1993)

Blue (1993)

Blue is the first of a trilogy called The Three Colours, from Krzysztof Kieślowski (co-written with Krzysztof Piesiewicz). You do not need to watch the other two films (White and Red), none of those other films connect to each other – except for one scene in the movie that all three characters are in one area. In fact, I have watched these films out of order, watching Blue, Red, and then White.

Juliette Binoche is the lead actress in Blue. Her character came from the ashes of a car accident that killed her husband and daughter. Freed from her family obligation, she becomes a recluse and tries to cut herself from the world. Soon enough, her husband’s work (and life) comes back into her life.

I didn’t know it at the time, but Blue’s theme is about Liberty.

White (1994)

White (1994)

I saw White last, so my recollection is that it was the most different of all the films. From what I can remember, this film is straight up a revenge film. The lead character is also a male, a Polish barber played by actor Zbigniew Zamachowski. His wife, played by Julie Delpy, takes his money, his home, his friends, and the barber becomes a homeless man.

Starting at zero, with absolutely nothing, the man slowly improves his situation and over time amass wealth. He frames her for his own fake murder, and she is arrested. It’s kind of a messed-up movie.

White’s theme is about equality. I wouldn’t have known if I wasn’t told.

Red (1994)

Red (1994)

I love Red. Once again, the beautiful Irène Jacob is the lead actress. She is a student who does ballet dance and a model. One night she runs over a dog with her car by accident. She finds her dog’s owner, an old man, who did not care for the dog, so she adopted the dog as her own. Thus begins a weird friendship between Jacob and the old man.

As I previously mentioned, I did not watch these films in order… but if I had, this final film, with the final scene of the ferry accident, you do see all the three main characters from White and Blue in this final scene. That’s the only connection, but it’s quite a cool one if you had seen the other films… just a subtle wink.

The theme to Red is fraternity. I don’t think you need to know the film’s theme to really enjoy these films.

I’ll say it again, these films are beautifully shot. There are long cuts that don’t add much to anything, but it’s just beautiful. For example, there’s a scene with Jacob listening to music in a store and the camera focus on her face and emotion. In the meantime, the real story are the background characters! It’s somewhat of a misdirection in storytelling. The real story is the two lovers. It’s beautifully filmed and framed.

When I saw these films in the mid-nineties (before the internet), I often wondered why we never got another Kieślowski film. I mean, these were, as far as I’m concerned, these were masterpieces. I found out years later that he died shortly after in 1996, at the age 54, to heart surgery (after suffering from a heart attack).

The Three Colours trilogy won numerous awards, including Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival and the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival, and three Academy Award nominations.