TROIS COULEURS: ROUGE / THREE COLORS: RED (1994)
Direction: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Cast: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Irène Jacob, Jean-Pierre Lorit, Frédérique Feder, Samuel Le Bihan
Screenplay: Krzysztof Kieslowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz
Oscar Movies, European Film Award Movies
Jean-Louis Trintignant, Irène Jacob, Three Colors: Red
By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica
The final film of Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Three Colors" trilogy, the 1994 release Rouge/ Red, is almost universally acclaimed as the best of the three. For once, the general consensus is correct; but then again, if one is to believe some of the online reviews of both Red and the trilogy itself, there are plenty of people who seriously question whether or not "Three Colors" is a better trilogy than those of Star Wars, The Matrix, or The Lord of the Rings.
Let me end that debate once and for all: The "Three Colors" trilogy is far better than those comic-book-type films. And real comparisons would be those to some of the truly great cinematic trilogies, such as Ingmar Bergman's "Spider" (Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, and The Silence), or Michelangelo Antonioni's "Alienation" (L'Avventura, La Notte, and L'eclisse).
As with the trilogy's prior two films, Blue and White, Red was written by Kieslowski and his partner Krzysztof Piesiewicz. It is a brilliant film, with the depth of Blue, the pathos of White, and character definitions superior to both as it follows the parallel lives of a small group of people in Carouge, a town just outside of Geneva. [Note: Spoilers ahead.]
Red's main character is a beautiful brunette model, Valentine Dussault (Irène Jacob), whose (never seen) boyfriend Michel is always trying to reach her on the phone. Michel, I should add, apparently has met White's Karol Karol in Poland, for he seems to be one of the people that Karol puts up when their luggage is lost in a scene mentioned in the earlier film. Michel, by the way, is never seen in White, either. (Also worth noting, Red opens with Michel calling Valentine and getting a busy signal, a scene shot in a manner that recalls the ending of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.)
As we get to learn more about Valentine, it becomes clear it's one of those roles that defines an actor; the character embodies decency and goodness, while radiating love and compassion throughout the film. In that regard, Valentine is reminiscent of the role played by Setsuko Hara in Tokyo Story, or more recently, Claire Danes in Shopgirl (although Jacob reminds me of British actress Finola Hughes in looks). Valentine is the sort of dream woman no man ever meets; not because she's a model, but because she is almost preternaturally good.
The character whose life parallels, or rather, shadows Valentine's is young wannabe judge Auguste Brunner (Jean-Pierre Lorit), who becomes deeply distraught after catching his girlfriend, Karin (Frédérique Feder), having sex with another man. Throughout the film, he and Valentine keep barely missing each other even though they live only a few houses away from one another.
In another plot thread, Valentine meets retired judge Joseph Kern (Jean-Louis Trintignant) after accidentally hitting the man's German shepherd, Rita. Once there, she discovers that he spies on his neighbors with high-tech surveillance equipment. The judge knows that one man a drug dealer, while another is cheating on his wife — it is the same man Auguste catches having sex with his girlfriend.
Now, if Jacob's performance is career making, Trintignant's is career capping. After decades in French cinema, including roles in Roger Vadim's And God Created Woman, Claude Lelouch's A Man and a Woman, and Costa-Gavras' Z, Trintignant is stupendous as the retired judge with numerous and highly complex personal issues. His is one of those performances whose greatness is not in scenery-chewing theatrics, but in the ability to move an audience with the slightest quiver of the face.
The judge is cold — to the point of deliberately spilling boiling water on his rug in a crude gesture of lust and impotence toward Valentine — but even when he refuses to take Rita back, we know there is something deeper and warmer in him. This side comes to full flower after Valentine nurses Rita back to health. The dog later has seven puppies that the judge grows to love.
Well, recall that Karol was well known in his town, to the point that he was a semi-legendary hairdresser.
I'll concede it's the more likely option that it's after White, but not a sure thing. White is the longest spanned of the films. Also, much of White is in either flashback, or possibly fantasy sequences, so what is really real and what is not is not as delineated as in the other two films.
As for the reconciliation, I see no evidence. It could be that they were just out to toy with and terrorize each other. They are not shot together for a reason. What that is is debatable, but it's an imp. artistic choice.
Could they have reconciled. Yes? Or could this be earlier in the Trilogy? Recall that Karol's riches are shown lasting a year or more in White, before he avenges Dom, so the crash could take place in the months before White ends. After all, we know Karol had connections to the other films.
Regardless, this is trivia in comparison to the greatness of the Trilogy. Thanks for commenting.
I really enjoyed reading the detailed review of you and I'd like to comment on one point. You mention that we don't know if Dominique and Karol from White have reconciled for sure, for they are not seen together; yet I think we have enough clue to think that they really did. The news reporter in Red introduces Karol as a Polish business man and we know that he used to be an hair-dresser before he went back to Warsaw and became a business man in White. That's why, I think, Red is surely after White and seeing Dominique and Karol together on the boat should point that they reconciled.