The puppeteer makes a reference to the death of Weronika when he tells Veronique he uses duplicate dolls because they're often damaged during a performance. Can we infer the puppeteer is damaging Veronique and Weronika? Is he responsible for Veronique & Weronika's heart condition, and perhaps even Weronika's death? Does his art celebrate or subvert human exploitation?
share
The same question can be asked of the judged in _Red_, of course -- whether
he is merely a "retired judge," or a psychic/seer, or also a Fallen God/
manipulator. I think Kieslowski deliberately left this ambiguous, although
the puppeteer in _Double Life_ is less all-powerful or all-knowing than
Joseph Kern in _Red_.
The Belgian actor Philippe Volter, who played the puppeteer (and the real
estate agent in _Blue_) killed himself last year. If it makes any small
difference -- I'd like to say he was tremendous in that role.
I like to take a view of this movie that is more "pedestrian". The puppeteer is just a human, who wants to manipulate Veronique. She should stay away from him. In particular, she should not believe in his little novel, which he could've based on nothing more than what she told him about herself in the hotel room. In this interpretation, he is a threat to damage Veronique, but he has nothing to do with Weronika. In his art, apparently he does puppet shows and writes stories that are good for children, but proves to be manipulative with (young) adult Veronique.
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[My reply didn't go through ... let's try again]
But Kieslowski, unlike so many contemporary filmmakers, never considered
isolation the natural state of our existence. Thus Juliette Binoche's
radical freedom from others in _Blue_ proves transitory. The characters
in the films of this most humanistic and communal-minded of directors
constantly run into, spy on, and indeed manipulate each other (especially
in _A Short Film about Killing_, _A Short Film about Love_, and _Red_
-- a more profound version of _Veronique_). That is their fate, the
natural order of things in Kieslowski's universe. For a stark contrast,
see Tom Tykwer's _Heaven_, adapted from Kieslowski's and Piesiewicz's
script. Tykwer believed in isolation, and he made a mess of the story.
I wish I agree with Kieslowski that benign connectedness rules our
relationships, but that's probably because Kieslowski was a far greater
human being (not to mention artist) than I am; he elevated chance
meetings and the elusive, mystical connections between people into
a state of grace.
I thought about your post a long time. Thanx
shareI don't remember well, but didn't the scene with the dolls have something to do with rebirth or metamorphosis? It was really beautiful.
shareYes, the early scene with the puppet show at the school was about rebirth.
I wanted to believe that the puppeteer was good, but every time I come to the end of the movie, I can't help but view him as a subversive character. Veronique tells him she loves him, but I don't get the feeling that she really does. There are two troubling scenes that lead me to feel this way: 1) when they are in the hotel room and Veronique begins to cry and the puppeteer picks this time to make love to her and 2) the scene in which he shows her the puppets that represent her...she is obviously deeply troubled at the thought of the two identical puppets.
Yeah! I just didn't like the guy. He seemed very into getting what he wanted from people, regardless of the effects on them. I noticed it in those two scenes you mention and also his whole "game" w. making her come to the coffee shop just to see if someone can be manipulated that way.
I think the love making scene annoyed me the most. She's crying and he tries to make out w. her? Yes, nothing is sexier than a woman in (emotional) pain. Ugh.
hmmm......my interpretation of that final sex scene was different from yours and Greenteeth. I thought that he sensed that she needed soothing...distracting from her mind, where troubling thoughts of loss and confusion were dwelling. As someone else pointed out in another thread, Veronique was quite focused on her body rather than anything spiritual, and so he sensed that he could transport her from her troubles via the power of sexual pleasure. It did seem to work, since her sadness was replaced by a climax. In many different situations in life, people use the overwhelming power of sex to heal and transport one another. Often, when people are grieving heavily, they look to sex and orgasm for escape.
Overall, my view of the puppeteer was that he was very strange, and had his heads completely in the clouds. he was so driven by fantasy, dreams and mythology that it was almost schizophrenic. I think, though, that he was lying about the game being done just to see if it were possible. There was obviously more to it than that.
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