this is my second kieslowski film, after trois couleurs: bleu; i have yet to see the rest of the trilogy and the dekalog series, but as i was watching this a thought crossed my mind: could this film be, in terms of subject, approach and especially colour and music use a precusor to the trois couleurs trilogy? a sort of quatre couleurs: jeune?
shareThat's an interesting thought. I wonder what Kieslowski would have said about that. I personally do not think it is related to the trilogy. Obviously, all the movies in the trilogy have at least a small connection to each other, whereas "Double Life" is about the mysterious ways people are connected. It's about something unknown that exists but is almost impossible to describe.
shareMaybe a trial run in sepia tones. Like all 3 colours, this movie has the recurring mysterious hunched old woman... not once but twice and in both worlds.
shareit's so funny that you should be saying that ilie. la double vie de veronique has been nicknamed "jaune" ("jeune" means young in french, jaune is yellow) by my brother and sister for about ten years now. people always come round to the same ideas in the end!
shareWatch the rest if his films... the themes presented here are recurrent throughout his career. This was his connection film that linked his move from Poland to France. It contains several of his Dekalog themes and introduces many that he will explore through the trilogy. They're related.... but simply by the fact that Kieslowski has very explicit themes that he always explores, pretty much allowing you to connect any of his films. I would suggest the Dekalog, on that note, above the Three Colors, you may notice in Dekalog 9 he has a character who has a problem remarkably similar to Veronique, in fact you might even say it's the exact same character in simply a different set of events.
shareAnnette Insdorf, in her commentary for Blue, refers to the look of this film as "golden" (rather than "yellow"), opposing them to Decalogue 5/A Short Film About Killing's green filters and, of course, Blue's blue tone. Idziak shot all four.
So, with that in mind, perhaps we should call it "Or," which, both in French and English have many meanings; or, alternatively, another French word for gold is "Fin" (fine gold) which also, of course, means The End.
The 'three colours' refers to the French flag. Can't really add another colour there without upsetting an awful lot of people. :)
shareYes, and each of the colours represents one of the French revolution ideals - blue=freeedom, white= equality, red=brotherhood. Watch the films carefully and you´ll see these themes in it
shareYes, I think the difficulty in assigning a colour to this film is the lack of any standard interpretation for symbolism. In the three colours films the French flag acted as a lexicon to tie together the colour scheme with the themes and plot, we haven't got this so it comes down to personal interpretation.
With this film you could say that there were particular colour schemes but what does this actually mean? I saw a lot of green, it seemed like there was something green in almost every shot and characters were often lit with green light, but does that mean anything? There's nothing to link the symbolic value of the colours with the themes.
Actually, Blue and white were for aristocracy, and red for the people. French ideals "Liberté égalité fraternité" are not related with the flag colors. And btw, the French don't display flags on their cars or homes like American people do. You'll see some on state buildings, and some for the 14th of July (Bastille Day), but that's all. The last fans of the French flag are Le Pen and his creepy fascists.
shareDouble vie de Véronique is like a condensed version of the three colors trilogy with Irene Jacob playing all three roles of the other movies.
Her character makes a transition from relative isolation (blue) through youthful sexuality (white) to integrated, sublimated sexuality (red), at which point she's networked to her father's bloodline as shown in the concluding scene. At her father's home she reaches out to touch the family tree, the Tree of Life.
magpiemail, I like your summary! According to Kieslowski, blue=liberty, white=equality, red=fraternity. These three themes should be able to be matched into Double vie de Véronique.
shareIndeed, there are ties here to the Trois Couleurs trilogy (not the least of which is Irene Jacob herself in Red!). The music-- yes...down to the composer's name which also appears in the trilogy, as well as the crippled old woman. The point, I believe, is the intersection (parallel paths?) of seemingly disparate lives-- if only briefly. And, when you watch the Rouge and Blanc pay special attention to the courtroom sequence...it is quick, but you will then understand the previous comment.
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If there is a color that might be applied to this film, it should come from Kieslowski's themes, not from the actual color of the movie. Veronique came before Three Colors, in which Kieslowski consciously associated color and theme. Red symbolizes fraternity in the French flag. (I don't know how this came to be; maybe red is for blood, which we all share.) Kieslowski stated that the theme of this film is that the way we live our lives influences on others' lives, others who are known and unknown to us. We can't avoid living so as to keep our influence from affecting others. It's very much like Albert Camus' version of Existentialism. So, thematically, TDLOV is most like Red. Now the argument for yellow is convincing, and it's dangerous to be a revisionist interpreter. But looking back on his work as a whole, our responsibility to our fellow human beings--the brotherly love of Christianity--is central to both Veronique and Red. So it may not be coincidental that Red and Veronique are my two favorites among the Kiewlowski films I've seen.
Btw, the recurrent image of a bent old woman whom the main character tries to help is explained by this recurring theme in Kieslowski.
Green.
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