Three Colors: Red

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Three Colours: Red
Directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski
Produced by Yvon Crenn
Written by Krzysztof Piesiewicz
Krzysztof Kieślowski
Starring Irène Jacob
Jean-Louis Trintignant
Music by Zbigniew Preisner
Cinematography Piotr Sobociński
Editing by Jacques Witta
Distributed by Miramax (USA)
Release date(s) May 12, 1994
Running time 99 min.
Language French
IMDb profile

Three Colours: Red (French: Trois Couleurs: Rouge, Polish: Trzy kolory. Czerwony) is a 1994 French-Polish-Swiss co-production, co-written, produced, and directed by Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski. It is the final film of the Three Colors trilogy, which examines the French Revolutionary ideals; it is preceded by Blue and White. Kieślowski had announced that this would be his final film[1], which proved true with the director's sudden death in 1996.

Red is about fraternity (brotherhood), which it examines by showing characters whose lives gradually become closely interconnected, and bonds forming between two characters who appear to have little in common.

Contents

[edit] Plot synopsis

Set in Geneva, Switzerland, the film begins with clips that track a telephone call between London and Geneva, where a naïve university student and part-time model, Valentine, is talking to her emotionally distant but possessive boyfriend. Valentine then meets a reclusive retired judge, Joseph Kern, after accidentally injuring his dog. The film eventually focuses on the consequences of Kern's surveillance of private telephone conversations, and the friendship that develops between Kern and Valentine as he reveals his personal history to her.

A parallel story follows Valentine's neighbor, Auguste, a law student, who is in and out of her daily routine without either realizing it. Auguste is studying for his law exams, and has a girlfriend, Karin, whose job is to provide "personal weather forecasts" to travelers. Karin is one of the people whose conversations Kern is monitoring. While Auguste is busy studying, Karin meets another man and shifts her romantic attention to him, away from Auguste. Auguste does pass his law exams, after one moment when he accidentally drops his law book in the street, and it opens to the exact page that he ends up referring to later during the examination. However, later, at one point, Auguste sees Karin and the other man making love through a window from outside their bedroom. This is nearly identical to the betrayal that made Kern a bitter recluse, and Auguste's life generally parallels Kern's.

The film culminates in a ferry voyage, where Valentine and Auguste are on the same ferry without knowing about each other still. Karin and her boyfriend are sailing on a separate boat. There is a storm that causes the ferry to sink, and the same storm sinks Karin's boat with the two of them aboard. From the ferry, there are very few survivors. These include the main characters from the other two films of the trilogy, Julie and Olivier from Blue and Karol and Dominique from White. The film implies, but does not overtly state, that Valentine and Auguste will eventually meet and begin a relationship.

[edit] Recurring images

As in the previous two films, a single color dominates: numerous objects in the film are bright red, including the huge advertising banner featuring Valentine's facial profile.

Several images recur throughout the film. Telephone communication is important throughout, and so is broken glass (when Kern reveals his eavesdropping, his neighbors throw rocks through his windows, and the end of the film Kern watches Valentine and Auguste on the news while watching the outside world through broken glass). Also, when Valentine is bowling, the camera moves down the line to where there sits a broken glass next to a packet of Marlboro cigarettes.

[edit] Soundtrack

Main Article: Three Colors: Red (Soundtrack)

The soundtrack to Red was composed by long-term Krzysztof Kieślowski collaborator Zbigniew Preisner.

[edit] Track listing

  • 1. Love At First Sight
  • 2. Fashion Show l
  • 3. Meeting The Judge
  • 4. The Tapped Conversation
  • 5. Leaving The Judge
  • 6. Psychoanalysis
  • 7. Today Is My Birthday
  • 8. Do Not Take Another Man's Wife l
  • 9. Treason
  • 10. Fashion Show ll
  • 11. Conversation At The Theatre
  • 12. The Rest Of The Conversation At The Theatre
  • 13. Do Not Take Another Man's Wife II
  • 14. Catastrophe
  • 15. Finale
  • 16. L'Amour Au Premier Regard

[edit] Principal cast

[edit] Awards and recognition

  • Red was selected by the New York Times as one of "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made."
  • Comedy Inc, an Australian comedy series, features a segment in which several characters are debating over what is the greatest film ever made, Three Colors is mentioned.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Janet Maslin. "After 'Blue' and 'White,' the Rosiness of 'Red'", New York Times, 4 October 1994. Retrieved on 2007-09-15. 

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Films directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski
1960s

The Face (1966) • The Office (1966) • The Tram (1966) • Concert of Requests (1967) • The Photograph (1968) • From the City of Łódź (1968)
1970s

I Was a Soldier (1970) • Factory (1970) • Workers '71: Nothing About Us Without Us (1971) • Before a Rail (1971) • Between Wrocław and Zielona Góra (1972) • Principles of Safety and Hygiene in a Copper Mine (1972) • Gospodarze (1972) • Pedestrian Subway (1973) • First Love (1974) • Curriculum Vitae (1975) • Personnel (1975) • Hospital (1976) • The Scar (1976) • The Calm (1976) • I Don't Know (1977) • From a Night Porter's Point of View (1978) • Camera Buff (1979)
1980s

Railway Station (1980) • Talking Heads (1980) • Short Working Day (1981) • Blind Chance (1981) • No End (1985) • The Decalogue (1988) • A Short Film About Killing (1988) • A Short Film About Love (1989)
1990s