Kieslowski's Trois Couleurs Trilogy

[Slim]

This trilogy of films was apparently the summation of the Polish director's life's work. After completing Trois Couleurs: Rouge (1994), Krzysztof Kieslowski retired from film-making and later died in 1996.

The three films of this trilogy: Bleu, Blanc, & Rouge represent the colours of the French flag.

http://www.ulaverne.edu/french/img/french-flag.gif

Bleu = Liberty, Blanc = Equality, and Rouge = Fraternity. Each film would explore one of these themes.

Trois Couleurs: Bleu (1993)

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The first of the trilogy dealing with contemporary French society, starring Juliette Binoche. Dealing with grief and the decision to cut oneself off from the rest of the world.

8/10


Trois Couleurs: Blanc (1994)

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The second of the trilogy, starring Julie Delpy. A funny story of love and betrayal. An unexpected, but nice change from Bleu.

7/10


Trois Couleurs: Rouge (1994)

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The final film of the trilogy, starring Irene Jacob. Kieslowski saves the best for last, I think. This one is easily my favourite of the three. It brings a sense of connection and closure to the trilogy. Brilliant stuff, just pay attention.

9/10

All these movies feature beautiful and clever cinematography. The themes are ultimately a universal exploration of humanity. I suspect I may need several viewing to sufficiently grasp everything that is going on here. Just a superb product of writing, performances, cinematography, editing, and sound.

Highly recommended! http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/happy/1/happy34.gif

[whitemat]

I agree with you that it probably takes multiple viewings to really get these films because I watched Blue and it was just so boring. Maybe its just me but it seemed to move so slow and there was no story or anything happening at all.

I will watch it again though just to see if there is something I missed because I always read and hear about how good this movie is. Hopefully if I watch it with the other movies white and red it will make more sense.

[Hannibal21]

To me, they might not be the most entertaining movies in the world, but they are great, beautiful films nontheless. It did take me more than one viewing to get used to them though. All three are either 8 or 9/10's.

[Sparrow]

I thought Blue was brilliant and intense. The slow, stark silence was beautiful.

Red was amazing.

I didn't care for White. It's definitely the weakest of the three.

[Slim]

Originally posted by Sparrow
I thought Blue was brilliant and intense. The slow, stark silence was beautiful.

Red was amazing.

I didn't care for White. It's definitely the weakest of the three.

Yes, I think White is the weakest as well. But I still enjoyed it and really isn't that much worst to me.

[Paterfamilias]

I like them all!! Red is probably my favorite as well.

On the DVD's there is an extra called Kieslowski's film school, or something like that where he goes through some scenes and talks about how he shot them and what he was trying to accomplish. Great Stuff.

In Blue, he said he went though hundreds of sugar cube's to find the brand that would soak up the coffee in exactly 4 seconds (i think).

He said that he would lose the audience if it took longer. Now that's paying attention to details!!

[Slim]

Originally posted by Paterfamilias
I like them all!! Red is probably my favorite as well.

On the DVD's there is an extra called Kieslowski's film school, or something like that where he goes through some scenes and talks about how he shot them and what he was trying to accomplish. Great Stuff.

In Blue, he said he went though hundreds of sugar cube's to find the brand that would soak up the coffee in exactly 4 seconds (i think).

He said that he would lose the audience if it took longer. Now that's paying attention to details!!

Haha. Yeah, I think the special features included on all the DVDs were very good. Lets you know all the interesting little details.

[Psychocandy]

Just saw Bleu for the first time. Wow. I've long wanted to see these movies and this just blew me away. Juliette Binoche gave a rivetting and in my opinion award worthy performance in the central role. The entire movie was built on her performance and it proved to be a pretty solid foundation. The use of silence and colour in this movie was amazing. The recurring motif where the screen fades to black and the orchestral music swells before fading back to the same scene was very well used. I'm now eager to see Blanc and Rouge and plan on doing so within the next several weeks. I think i'm gonna try and track down all of Kieslowski's movies. He was a very talented director. My only prior experiance of his work was seeing A Short Movie About Love late one night on Channel 4 in the UK. It was a cracking little movie too. I especially want to see his Dekalog. Think I may actually buy it.

[randythetool]

yeah, this trilogy is one of the best movies i've ever seen, my favorite being "Bleu" and the best being "Rouge."

Whee.

[Slim]

Originally posted by Psychocandy
I especially want to see his Dekalog. Think I may actually buy it.

I am also eager to watch the Dekalog. A new special edition DVD of the complete series was recently released. I assume the new transfer is a hell of a lot better than the VHS-quality of the old one. Expensive, but I will probably buy it anyway.

[Tuukka]

They are all very well made films with terrific acting, but I just find them bland. Great looking chicks, thought. I would rate these from 6 to 7.

I think Dekalog series and Veronique are much better.