Krzysztof Kieslowski's superb, universally acclaimed meditations on Liberty, Equality and Fraternity: Three Colours: Blue, White and Red.
In the first part, 'Three Colours: Blue', Julie (Juliette Binoche) has her world turned upside down when her husband and daughter are killed in a car crash. She sells the family home and moves to a Parisian suburb, attempting to build a new life for herself. But her efforts to start afresh are dragged down by memories from the past and fear of the present.
In the second part, 'Three Colours: White'. Karol Karol is a Polish hairdresser living in Paris. He has just been divorced and kicked out onto the streets by his beautiful young wife Dominique (Julie Delpy). Whilst begging on the Metro, Karol is befriended by his fellow countryman Mikolaj, who agrees to smuggle him back to Warsaw in a trunk. Once home Karol begins to rebuild his life, and, by cunning means, starts to make enormous profits in Poland's new free-market system. He then puts his newly-acquired wealth to use, and starts to enact a complex plan to bring Dominique back into his life.
In the third and final part, 'Three Colours: Red', fashion model Valentine (Irene Jacob) accidentally runs over a dog. She takes him to a vet, gets him patched up, then tries to return him to his owner. It turns out that the owner is a retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who lives alone and listens in on his neighbours' telephone conversations. Valentine and Joseph slowly become friends; meanwhile, one of Joseph's neighbours cheats on her boyfriend, a young law student who will have an important effect on Valentine's life.
Given that nothing in Krzysztof Kieslowski's canon could ever surpass his monumental TV series, The Dekalog, this trilogy has to settle for being his cinematic masterp... more >
Given that nothing in Krzysztof Kieslowski's canon could ever surpass his monumental TV series, The Dekalog, this trilogy has to settle for being his cinematic masterpiece. Suggested by his longtime script collaborator Krzysztof Piesiewicz, it makes a positive virtue of its tripartite nature. Each film represents a different tenet of the French Revolutionary slogan `Liberty, Equality and Fraternity'; each adopts a colour of the French tricolour to dictate its mood - blue (melancholic, reflective), white (innocent, cold) and red (passionate, dangerous); and each employed a different actress and cinematographer to emphasise its contrasting tone - Blue (Juliette Binoche, Slawomir Idziak); White (Julie Delpy, Edward Klosinski) and Red (Irène Jacob, Piotr Sobocinski). There would also have been three distinct settings - Paris, Warsaw and Geneva - had not the French capital also appeared in the opening scenes of Three Colours: White.
Premiered respectively at Venice (September 1993), Berlin (February 1994) and Cannes (May 1994), the films had an aura of summation about them, as if Kieslowski was going to fulfil his threat of retirement at the peak of his powers. Ultimately, his sudden death in 1996 ensured that the trilogy was to be his last testament - one that reinforced his reputation for a compassionate understanding of humanity, with all its flaws and failings, and his ability to make cinema both literary and visual, complex and accessible at one and the same time.
As well as offering a range of interviews and commentaries, this boxed set also includes Krzysztof Kieslowski: I'm So-So..., a deeply personal portrait and uniquely informed insight into the mind and working methods of one of modern European cinema's few genuine geniuses by Krzysztof Wierzbicki, who had served as Kieslowski's assistant since 1972. It's not a comprehensive career retrospective, but it provides a fascinating snapshot of an artist coming to terms with his decision to quit. < less
