The Three Colours - Souvik's Post

Krzysztof Kieślowski has been one of the most influential directors of our times and having now watched both his Decalogue and The Three Colours, it is not difficult to understand why. Beyond being the master storyteller that he is, his compassion and understanding of his films' characters, and humanity at large, gives a soul to all his works, that breathes and connects with the audience.

The three colours of the French flag, and what they represent, sets the theme for the trilogy. Each film has a distinct colour tone to it and even without seeing the title credits it will not be difficult for viewers to recognise which part of the trilogy they are watching. Blue starts with a sequence of a car crash where everything is blue - the gift wrap that the girl is holding on to, the dresses she and the boy are wearing, the car, the sky and even the streets and grass seem eerily blue. In White, the court building that Karol enters into is imposingly white; the countryside where the thugs dump Karol later again is sterile white; yet inviting for him. The final part of the trilogy is splattered with red imagery, from the giant blown up poster of Valentine to the red furnishings of the bowling alley where she goes to play.

Beyond the tonal quality of the movies, Kieślowski also uses specific objects in each of the films that come back time and again throughout each of the movies. In Blue, a lamp shade with blue beads keeps coming back linking numerous events. In White, the siver 2 franc coin and the white Roman bust of a lady keeps recurring. Red has images of Auguste's scarlet jeep and the distinctly red French Oak wooden door of the retired judge Joseph Kern. Above all of these recurring images is that of elderly people trying to recycle bottles. This imagery cuts across the three movies and in each of the movies the characters react differently to this, And the way they react mirror the theme of each of these movies - liberty, equality and fraternity.

Liberty

The film sets out with a definite imagery of traps. After the accident Julie is trapped in a car; she is rescued but is then treated in a hospital which again seems to bound her; her effort to commit suicide is the ultimate attempt to break free, to break the shackles of life. The film also establishes pretty early that Julie had little love left for her husband. Her reaction to her husband's death is muted; she is saddened by the loss of her daughter. When she watches the funeral on television, she touches on screen only the coffin of the girl and not of her husband's. In fact, when she decides to live life on her own terms, she chooses to use her maiden name. The tragic event, in a strange twist of fate, brings in a liberating effect to her life. She now chooses what to do and what not to. However, memories and people from her past life keep coming back. Her passion for music almost drags her back to her old life when she tries to provide inputs for one of her husband's monumental unfinished work. She also gets to learn about her husband's mistress and tracks her down. But its not long before she understands the complexities of the life left behind and soon distances herself again. She lets go of pride, fame, recognition and riches. She chooses liberty.

Equality

In White, Karol seems to have lost everything at the very start of the movie. He loses his wife since he cannot consummate their marriage; he loses his shelter and livelihood when his wife throws her out of their salon; and he loses his right to stay on in Paris being no longer married to a French woman. He sees himself as unequal, as a misfit. And then his journey begins to not only be equal to his wife Dominique, but be one better. He gets into shady dealings to amass enough wealth that will attract his estranged wife. After he has made love to her, he is happy that she moaned louder than she did earlier when she was with another man. And eventually by getting Dominique arrested for his murder his effort to get back on to level terms is complete.

Fraternity

The theme of brotherhood and compassion is all pervasive in Red. This film also begins by challenging the notion of fraternity. We find a retired judge who regularly taps into his neighbours' phone calls to listen in on their conversations. And while he tries to defend his actions at the beginning, Valentine's influence on him slowly changes the way he looked at the world. He confesses to the police risking humiliation and personal security. We see his window panes are being stoned down, and his neighbours being generally apprehensive of him. But Kern his happy. While as a judge he did what was right. He again gathered the courage to do the right. And in that he becomes one with his community, and the world he lives in.