Three Colors: Red (Trois couleurs: Rouge)

Release Year: 1994

Review: The final and most magnificent in a breathtaking trilogy, 'Red' is a masterpiece in every sense of the word.  The third color deals with the theme of Fraternity.  Irène Jacob plays Valentine, an almost impossibly kind, goodnatured, woman who meets the antitheses of herself in a retired, Gregory House-type judge who spies on his neighbors.  There is something magical about the way the film unfolds, where the Valentine's warmth sucks you in investing you in the outcome of her life.  The theme is explored primarily in the relationship between Valentine and the judge, who develop a close, but platonic relationship.  As a sub-thread throughout is the idea of predestination, and whether there is more than just blind luck driving our lives.  What makes this film, as well as the trilogy, is the sheer brilliance of Kieślowski at making every scene intricate and important.  There is not a scene wasted here, and every scene is beautiful in its own right.  What makes this the best of three is the cinematography, which is easily some of the best I've seen.  The way the camera moves tells its own story and the colors are intoxicating.  The audio commentary kept bringing up connections between this and another brilliantly shot film, The Conformist.  Like the Conformist, every shot is set up like a painting, with so much care and thought going into how they can force as much meaning out of every scene.  Red is an inspired, stunning and nearly perfect film in every sense.

[First Review, Nov 20 2008]
Review: This is the first film in the trilogy and first film by Krzysztof Kieslowski that I've seen, and if his other work is anything like this, it won't be my last. The beauty of this films lies in the details. The audience slowly gathers clues to what is unraveling. It's as if Kieslowski presents you with a blank canvas and gradually, and meticulously paints a a picture for you. Its not until the final scene you get to step back and realize what a masterpiece has unfolded before your eyes.

Rating: 5/5

Comments

[Alexander Dyle]

Although Kieslowski is viewed somewhat differently in his native Poland than he is in the West (ie: some argue that he did not faithfully reproduce reality in Poland in his later films but tended to portray an unrealistic, even abstract view of life which focused on small details normally overlooked by most people), Kieslowski was keen to show what connected people together, say, in terms of emotions, presentiments & intuition, rather than focus on what might divide people, such as religion or politics. Therefore for one to state that Kieslowski was trying to show in his later non-documentary films the political identity or context of Poland within a changing Europe would be seeing too much into what Kieslowski was really trying to achieve for his audience. Kieslowski particularly wanted his audience to ask questions of themselves. Kieslowski had no interest in guiding them to any answers that they might suspect he had as he had none to give them but was simply asking his audience the same questions he had asked himself all his life regarding how chance, coincidence or fate might connect people unknowingly. On a related note, if one wishes to view some of the filming locations used in Kieslowski's later films, please take a look at Kieslowski's Filming Locations on my website The Theatre Of The Third Kind.

I remain, &c.
Alexander Dyle