Three Colors: Red

Wow, I need to rewatch more films. The fact that this has such a driving narrative probably made it harder for me to initially connect with its ultimate strength: emotional insight; not just through writing but through the elegantly dramatic atmosphere that so carefully immerses you in the heart of the film. Three Colors: Red archives many fateful encounters but primarily those of a youthful modeling student and a retired judge who is sick of his previous moral judgments in the court. To distract himself from confronting his past, he confines himself to a sick and morose life of eavesdropping on his neighbors’ phone calls while awaiting their unraveling, something he believes to be inevitable in his pessimism. As fates continue to intertwine, the film becomes insistent on the idea that everyone, not just its protagonists, lives essentially the same life. It’s all the same series of choices yet what differs is one’s experiences and those ultimately mold their identity and worldview. This portrayal of personal perspective is fascinating because Kieslowski never insists on a sole perfect path to one’s life but simply lets his characters’ contrasting moral compasses play off each other and shape the course of the story. That, I believe, is the key here. All one can do is simply try to understand other’s experiences, because everyone is so extremely individual that to compare one’s state of being to another is futile. Kieslowski supports this central idea with virtuosic visual poetry, powerfully exploring its subtext and complimentary ideas to fully flesh out this concept of fraternity in individuality. The beautiful thing is, that’s just my interpretation. The intentional ambiguity of the film really leaves it up to the viewer to make their conclusion on its ubiquitous human ideas, and that is the ultimate potential of filmmaking. In addition to this extraordinary writing, it is technically superlative as well. Be it the theatrical and fluid cinematography that acts as a projection of the character’s emotional states or the arresting yet subdued lead performances, particularly from J. L. Trintignant who I completely overlooked on my first watch. Overall this film is a very important landmark in cinematic history that maintains a fierce singularity while concluding its trilogy and Kieslowski’s career with a resounding finality. 98/100