Krzysztof Kieślowski's Three Colours trilogy

These days, when we hear about series of films, they're usually action films that just have the sequels piled on to see how much money that can be squeezed out of the average cinema-goer. However, back in the day (we're talking 1993-1994 here), there was a Polish director called Krzysztof Kieślowski. He made a trilogy based on the ideas of the three colours in the French flag: blue for liberty, white for equality and red for fraternity. They each had different characters and different stories, and at first glance the films are only connected by their titles. Nevertheless, the trilogy as a whole is a brilliant piece of work. Let me give each of the films a small review each, as no measure of my writing could ever do these films justice:

Three Colours: Blue

Juliette Binoche is the lead here, playing Julie, a woman who has just lost her husband and child in a car crash. She doesn't seem to be dealing with it that well, and sets out to paralyse her emotions and basically 'disappear' from the world. However, she finds that while she is trying to cut herself off from her former life, she can not cut off her human connections, and as she tries to live in isolation she finds out the truth about her late husband. The film deals with the theme of 'liberation' by showing that Julie is liberated after her husband and child die. This isn't necessarily a good thing, but I couldn't help but think of a particular quote to describe Julie, ironically from another Juliette Binoche movie, Certified Copy: "my family lives their lives and I live mine." This particularly becomes more evident as the film wears on, as Julie finds out the truth and desperately tries to live her own life. Binoche is amazing, as always, here, with her face doing a large majority of the acting. I didn't think that Julie was a particularly likeable character but it's easy to feel what she is going through, which is thanks to Binoche's calculated performance. However, the biggest star of this movie for me was the music. The music played a vital role in the movie, often being used as a narrative device. It was beautiful music, indeed.

Three Colours: White

This one is generally perceived as the worst of the trilogy, but that doesn't mean that it is at all bad. I actually found this one far more enjoyable than Blue, as that movie was occasionally quite pretentious (sorry to any arthouse fans which I may have offended with the use of that word, but that's my opinion), yet this movie was a black comedy, a genre which I genuinely enjoy. I felt like this movie took itself seriously enough to not be taken seriously, which was a strange thing, but I liked what Kieślowski did here. Ultimately, it's a saddening tale, particularly as our hero Karol Karol (Zbigniew Zamachowski) is given the job of assisting a man's suicide. Also, the end is a particularly memorable one, which I felt sad about at first, but then I also realised how much it showed the film's theme of equality. I can't figure out whether that equality was cruel or fair, which of course got me thinking a little bit about equality and how strange it is. The problem I had with White was the fact that it didn't have a strong story like Blue and Red, and it was a little different in tone compared with the other two. While it is probably the worst film of the lot (it is still really good), I'm tempted to say that White is the most accessible out of the three. It is rather entertaining and occasionally deeply affecting. In the strangest of ways.

Three Colours: Red

Red is hands down my most favourite film out of the trilogy, and will definitely be making it's way into the higher section of my favourite films of all time. The reason why I loved Red so much was because it tells the story of something which I often think about: how different people's lives interconnect in the most mysterious ways. The way that Kieślowski makes the story of the retired judge Kern (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and the beautiful model Valentine (Irene Jacob) parallel with the story of student Auguste (Jean-Pierre Lorit) and his girlfriend Karin (Frederique Feder) is intriguing. It really got me thinking of how strangely different lives can parallel each other and how fate and destiny can control some things. I just found a lot more to mull over with Red, which is something that hadn't happened to me with Blue and White. It actually seems to cover everything, much like I believe that The Tree of Life tried to do, but it did this with a lot more ease and fluidity. Maybe it's not a film about existence for anyone else, and maybe I just read a little too far into it. But it took me another watch early this morning to fully realise the many things that this film was trying to say, which was as satisfying as ever. Red is a masterpiece, pure and simple. And that final twist is shocking, with the final image etched in my memory forever. I blame Kieślowski and his work with Red for making me walk around all day like I'm part of a French arthouse film.

What I got for Blue and White:

What I got for Red:

Have you watched this trilogy? What did you think of the films?