Three Colors: Red (1994)

Original Title

Trois couleurs: Rouge

Genres

Drama, Mystery, Romance

Director

Krzysztof Kieślowski

Countries

France, Poland, Switzerland

Cast

Irène Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jean-Pierre Lorit, Frederique Feder, Samuel Le Bihan, Marion Stalens, Teco Celio, Bernard Escalon, Jean Schlegel, Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy, Zbigniew Zamachowski

Storyline

After accidentally running over a dog, Valentine (Irène Jacob) meets the dog's owner, a cynical retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who spies on his neighbours.

Opinion

Trilogies, it is so interesting what someone can do with three films connected together. Most of the time filmmakers end up ruining the first entries, which are usually the good ones. But not Krysztof Kieslowski, that is not his case. What he did instead is getting better and better, and although it isn't my favourite of the trilogy - I really loved the light tones of "White" -, "Red" is simply brilliant and easily the most philosophical and thought-provoking chapter.

After freedom and equality has come the time to talk about fraternity, and Kieslowski does it by telling a brilliant, intriguing and mysterious story about love. That's the feeling the Polish director choose to portray fraternity, and honestly, it's the best he could have picked. He sees fraternity aka brotherhood as a connection between people in spite of their age, gender and other minor, pointless differences.

"Red" can claim brilliant, fascinating characters as well. They are not very believable and they are very much idealised, but the way Kieslowski presents to us them and their complicated interactions with everything surrounding them, from people to fate, is what makes them interesting. And certainly doesn't hurt having a cast that is able to capture and deliver the complexity of their characters.

Just like the previous two films, this one too is a visual feast. However, this time around the colour is much more predominant. It indeed plays a very significant role as it is used to draw attention to significant elements. The photography is also very beautiful.

1 comment :

  1. This one is my favorite of the trilogy. I'm glad you got to watch all of them.

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