2011 was a great year for movies for me. I made some wonderful discoveries, and I was able to rethink some old favorites. This film trilogy by Krystof Kiewsloski ended up being the best new discovery I made last year as I began writing this blog. I wrote about them earlier this year, but wanted to revisit them, and also encourage my readers to consider watching them in 2012. The films were originally released in the early 1990's. I had heard about them for years, but had never taken the time to watch them. Now, that I have, I see what all the fuss was about. The three films are entitled "Blue", "White" and "Red" in reference to the three colors in the French flag. Also, each of these films is about one of the three concepts of the French motto (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity). These films taken together are one of those experiences that shows more than most the unique nature of cinema, and why so much can be expressed with a movie camera that simply cannot be expressed any other way.
In "Blue", Juliette Binoche plays Julie, a woman who loses her husband and young daughter in a car accident. Her husband is a famous composer who is writing a symphonic piece to commemorate the unification of Europe. When they die, she attempts to completely separate herself from her past and from any emotional attachments. This proves to become more and more difficult as we get to know her. We come to find out that she is a compassionate person, and that she will not be able to abandon humanity, even those people who have hurt her.
Kiewsloski does some wonderful things here with photography and with soundtrack. This is a total cinematic experience. The production design, the music, the acting, and the writing all feed the theme and tone of the film wonderfully. Take, for example, many of the scenes shot in the swimming pool. The water itself is blue. Also, the pool can symbolize liberty, because a person in it is not bound by gravity in the traditional sense. Julie escapes to the pool because she sees it as a place of liberty. But even there she cannot totally escape. In the end, the film grapples with the nature of liberty. Are we truly at liberty when we have no attachments to others? Or do we find true freedom in serving others? The film does not answer these questions, but allows us to grapple with them.
The second film in the trilogy, "White", goes in a different direction. It is a dark comedy, so many of the scenes of the film have an irony and a harshness that makes you laugh through your tears. The film follows Karol, a Polish immigrant to France whose marriage to Dominque is falling apart. We come to find out that there has been no consummation of the marriage (due to physical inability on his part to consummate), so Dominique is not only leaving him, but she is intent on humiliating him. Karol is left penniless and destitute. The majority of the film is about his attempt to rebuild his life and get equal with Dominique.
Here again, Kiewsloski uses the cinema as his canvas. The color white is everywhere in this movie. After his marriage is dissolved in a courtroom, Karol leaves the courtroom, making his way down the alabaster steps. As the pigeons fly away to avoid him, on of them defecates on him, leaving a white smear on his suit. The frozen landscapes of Poland bring the white theme. And the enduring image of Dominique in her wedding dress is used, as the hope of a marriage awaits Karol and Dominique, and to be a short lived disappointment.
In the end, this film is about getting even, and what that means. The climactic shot of the film has a power to it in showing when Karol has achieved his equality. But since there is more to the movie, the final shot of the film tells us far more about the true nature of the relationship between Karol and Dominique. The foreshadowing of the window shot early in the film shows a longing that Karol has for Dominique, and the final shot shows that same longing, though I will not say anything more about the final shot.
As I came to the third film in the trilogy, I had high expectations. It seemed unlikely that the third movie of the trilogy would equal or surpass the other two movies. What I found was another wonderful movie. I have seldom felt the kind of exhilaration that I felt as I watched the last frames of "Red". Though the 3 films of the 3 Colors Trilogy take place in different places and focus on different characters, it is clear the Kiewsloski is telling if not one story, then at least 3 related stories. What amazed me in watching this film is that even though "Blue" and "White" were so good, this film still went to a different level. Why? I think it is because this movie feels the most hopeful. None of the 3 films end sadly or tragically. In all three films, there is a clear resolution. But what makes this film different is its protagonist.
I once read that when Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote The Idiot, it was his aim to depict a perfectly upright man. In many ways, it feels as though Kiewsloski is doing that with the character of Valentine. She is sensitive, lovely, compassionate and selfless. In a movie with constant red imagery, here Kiewsloski names his character something that evokes the color. One night, Valentine is driving and hits a dog. She locates the dog's owner Joseph, and finds him to be a retired judge. He now spends his days using fancy equipment to spy on the phone conversations of other residents of Geneva. As this relationship plays it self out, another parallel story is playing itself out. A young law student who is on the verge of passing his exams lives on the same block as Valentine. As we find out more about Joseph and is background, we begin to see remarkable parallels between Joseph and the young law student who lives near Valentine. This film concerns itself with the broader implications of brotherly love and caring for mankind. I don't want to give anything away, but there is an identical image in all 3 films which ends differently in "Red", and I think in that scene we see a great deal about what Kiewsloski is trying to say in this film.
All three of these films evoke great excitement for me. Kiewsloski (who passed away in 1996 at age 54) creates 3 films that celebrate what cinema has to offer. He shows through his work that there are certain things that can be communicated through this medium which simply cannot be communicated any other way. The combination of music, story, visual images, clever dialogue and drama that can only come through in cinema is on full display. And yet, the films do not spoon feed the viewer. These movies challenge us with moral ambiguity, but then have the audacity to then challenge us with absolutes as well.
The last images of this film sum up the trilogy well. Here, we have a vast work of imagination that reminds us that we are all connected as humans. What connects us are ideals and our common humanity. But it doesn't end there. It also seems that Kiewsloski leaves us wanting to ask one final question: Where do we go from here?
