Three Colors trilogy

Three Colors trilogy
Directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski
Produced by Marin Karmitz
Yvonne Crenn
Written by Krzysztof Kieślowski
Krzysztof Piesiewicz
Starring Juliette Binoche
Zbigniew Zamachowski
Julie Delpy
Irène Jacob
Jean-Louis Trintignant
Music by Zbigniew Preisner
Cinematography Edward Kłosiński
Piotr Sobociński
Slawomir Idziak
Edited by Urszula Lesiak
Production
company
Distributed by MK2 Distribution
Release dates
  • 8 September 1993 (1993-09-08) (Blue)
  • 26 January 1994 (1994-01-26) (White)
  • 8 September 1994 (1994-09-08) (Red)
Running time
288 minutes
Country France
Poland
Switzerland
Language Blue:
French
Romanian
Polish
White:
French
Polish
English
Russian
Red:
French
Box office $6,144,162 (All 3 films)

The Three Colors trilogy (Polish: Trzy kolory, French: Trois couleurs) is the collective title of three films directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski, two made in French and one primarily in Polish: Three Colors: Blue (1993), Three Colors: White (1994), and Three Colors: Red (1994). All three were co-written by Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz (with story consultants Agnieszka Holland and Sławomir Idziak) and have musical scores by Zbigniew Preisner.

Red received nominations for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography at the 67th Academy Awards.

Themes

Blue, white, and red are the colours of the French flag in left-to-right order, and the story of each film is loosely based on one of the three political ideals in the motto of the French Republic: liberty, equality, fraternity. As with the treatment of the Ten Commandments in The Decalogue, the illustration of these principles is often ambiguous and ironic. As Kieślowski noted in an interview with an Oxford University student newspaper, “The words [liberté, egalité, fraternité] are French because the money [to fund the films] is French. If the money had been of a different nationality we would have titled the films differently, or they might have had a different cultural connotation. But the films would probably have been the same.”

The trilogy are also interpreted respectively as an anti-tragedy, an anti-comedy, and an anti-romance.

Films

Further information: Three Colors: Blue
Further information: Three Colors: White
Further information: Three Colors: Red

Principal cast

DVD cover
Three Colors: Blue
Three Colors: White
Three Colors: Red

Soundtrack

Music for all three parts of the trilogy was composed by Zbigniew Preisner and performed by Silesian Philharmonic choir along with Sinfonia Varsovia.

Further information: Three Colors (soundtracks)
Further information: Three Colors: Blue (soundtrack)
Further information: Three Colors: Red (soundtrack)

Reception

Blue got 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes website, based on 39 reviews.[1] The second part of the trilogy, White, was ranked with 90% based on 41 reviews,[2] while its final film, Red, was certified "Fresh" on the same website and got 100% based on 47 reviews.[3]

Roger Ebert included the trilogy in its entirety to his "Great Movies" list.[4]

Ranked #11 in Empire magazine's "The 33 Greatest Movie Trilogies" in 2010.[5]

Ranked #14 in Empire magazine's "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2010.[6]

References

External links

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