Trois couleurs: Rouge (Three Colors: Red) (1994)

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Writers:  Krzysztof Kieslowski, Krzysztof Piesiewicz
Cast:      Irene Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Frederique Feder

Final entry in a trilogy of films dealing with contemporary French society concerns a model who discovers her neighbor is keen on invading people's privacy.

This is Kieslowski's last film as he died two years later. As a standalone film, it is the best film of the trilogy but its better to take the three films as a whole. It is similar to Double Life of Veronique in the sense that in this film also by the end you will realize that a single character resides in two bodies. It is the most Lynchian Kieslowski film.

Kieslowski had announced retiring after this project but was working on a script for another trilogy with his collaborator Piesiewicz with themes Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. First one was later made by Tom Tykwer. Three Colors trilogy and Decalogue alone is enough for Kieslowski to be considered among the greatest of them all. Shame that he died early at the age of 54. 

Rating: 5/5

Trois couleurs: Blanc (Three Colors: White) (1994)

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski

Writers:  Krzysztof Kieslowski, Krzysztof Piesiewicz

Cast:      Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy

Language: Polish, French

Second of a trilogy of films dealing with contemporary French society shows a Polish immigrant who wants to get even with his ex-wife.

The film's theme is equality which is represented by the white color in French flag. It is a dark comedy with the two characters having a love-hate relationship based on the power they command over the other half. Back story to their relationship is not given and the film starts with the divorce proceedings. It can be seen as a metaphor to the condition of immigrants in a developed country. The first half for example can be seen as the attitude towards Polish immigrants in England and the second half, attitude towards the millionaires from Russia/Middle East buying up property in  London.

The sympathy we feel towards the characters change as the film progresses. By the end we feel equally good or bad towards both the characters and in that sense equality is achieved. 

Rating: 4/5

Trois couleurs: Bleu (Three Colors: Blue) (1993)

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski

Writers:  Krzysztof Kieslowski, Krzysztof Piesiewicz

Cast:      Juliette Binoche, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Emmanuelle Riva

Language: French

First of a trilogy of films dealing with contemporary French society concerns how the wife of a composer deals with the death of her husband and child.

I saw the trilogy initially on TV in UTV World Movies some 4-5 years back. Decided to watch it again seeing that the guys at Auteurcast are going through Kieslowski films now. The films are named after the three colors in the French flag: Blue, White and Red representing Liberty, Equality and Fraternity respectively which are also the themes represented in film. 

As it is usually the case with Kieslowski films, there is not a scene wasted and is shot beautifully using colors, lights and reflections well. The story is quite straight forward and some characters that appear in later films in the trilogy are also seen briefly.

Rating: 4.5/5

Bez konca (No End) (1985)

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Writers:  Krzysztof Kieslowski, Krzysztof Piesiewicz
Language: Polish
It's 1982: Poland is under martial law, and Solidarity is banned. Ulla, a translator working on Orwell, suddenly loses her husband, Antek, an attorney. She is possessed by her grief, and Antek continues to appear to her. She seeks to free herself in her work, in her relationship with her son, in sex, and in hypnosis. In a subplot, Ulla refers the wife of one of her husband's clients Darek, a jailed Solidarity strike organizer to Labrador, a world-weary, aging attorney, who works to free Darek by various political manipulations and psychological ploys.

Its similar in theme to the first installment in the 'Three Colours' trilogy-Blue. It is also the first collaboration of Kieslowski with the writer Krzysztof Piesiewicz. Its more than a good film with an excellent performance from Grazyna Szapolowska.

Rating: 3.5/5

Dekalog (The Decalogue) (1989)

Director:   Krzystof Kieslowski
Writers:    Krzystof Kieslowski, Krzyzstof Piesiewicz
Language: Polish
Ten television drama films, each one based on one of the ten commandments.

Stanley Kubrick described it as the only masterpiece during his lifetime. Originally it was intended to be directed by ten young polish directors, but after finishing the scripts Kieslowski did it all himself. Two of the films were expanded to films as 'A short film about Love' and 'A short film about Killing'. The connection with the commandments are based loosely only. Undoubtedly Kieslowski's best work.

Rating: 5/5

La double vie de Véronique (The Double Life of Veronique) (1991)

Director:   Krzystof Kieslowski
Writer:      Krzystof Kieslowski
Language: French, Polish
Veronika lives in Poland. Veronique lives in Paris. They don't know each other.

Films is exquisitely shot with great soundtrack and excellent performance from Irene Jacob who is also there in Three Colours: Red. Film might need to be looked at again to appreciated fully.

Rating: 3.5/5