Blue, white, and red are the colours of the French flag in hoist-to-fly order, and the story of each film is loosely based on one of the three political ideals in the motto of the French Republic: liberty, equality, fraternity. As with the treatment of the Ten Commandments in Dekalog, the illustration of these principles is often ambiguous and ironic. As Kieślowski noted in an interview with an Oxford University student newspaper: "The words [liberté, egalité, fraternité] are French because the money [to fund the films] is French. If the money had been of a different nationality, we would have titled the films differently, or they might have had a different cultural connotation. But the films would probably have been the same".[1]
The trilogy has also been interpreted by film critic Roger Ebert as, respectively, an anti-tragedy, an anti-comedy, and an anti-romance.[2]
Connections and patterns
A symbol common to the three films is that of an underlying link or thing that keeps the protagonist linked to their past. In the case of Blue, it is the lamp of blue beads, and a symbol seen throughout the film in the TV of people falling (doing either sky diving or bungee jumping); the director is careful to show falls with no cords at the beginning of the film, but as the story develops the image of cords becomes more and more apparent as a symbol of a link to the past. In the case of White the item that links Karol to his past is a 2 Fr. coin and a plaster bust of Marianne[3] that he steals from an antique store in Paris. In the case of Red, the judge never closes or locks his doors and his fountain pen, which stops working at a crucial point in the story.[4]
Another recurring image related to the spirit of the film is that of elderly people recycling bottles: In Blue, an old woman in Paris is recycling bottles and Julie does not notice her (in the spirit of freedom); in White, an old man also in Paris is trying to recycle a bottle but cannot reach the container and Karol looks at him with a sinister grin on his face (in the spirit of equality); and in Red, an old woman cannot reach the hole of the container and Valentine helps her (in the spirit of fraternity).
In Blue, while Julie is searching for her husband's mistress in the central courthouse, she accidentally steps into an active court trial and is immediately turned around by security. While Julie is peeking into the courtroom, Karol from White can be heard pleading to the judge in a scene that begins his chapter of the trilogy.
Each film's ending shot is of a character crying. In Blue, Julie de Courcy cries looking into space. In White, Karol cries as he looks at his wife. In Red, the judge Kern cries as he looks through his broken window out at the camera.
Many main characters from Blue and White, including Julie and Karol, appear at the ending of Red as survivors of a ferry accident.
Ranked #11 in Empire magazine's "The 33 Greatest Movie Trilogies" in 2010.[18]
Ranked #14 in Empire magazine's "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2010.[19]
References
^Abrahamson, Patrick (2 June 1995). "Kieslowski's Many Colours". Oxford University Student newspaper. Archived from the original on 19 February 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
^Skrodzka-Bates, Aga (2011). "Clandestine human and cinematic passages in the United Europe: The Polish Plumber and Kieślowski's hairdresser". Studies in Eastern European Cinema. 2: 75–90. doi:10.1386/seec.2.1.75_1. S2CID145608963.
^Elliott, David (25 December 1994). "On the big screen, color it a satisfying time". The San Diego Union-Tribune (1, 2 ed.). p. E=8.
^Lovell, Glenn (25 December 1994). "The Past Picture Show the Good, the Bad and the Ugly -- a Year Worth's of Movie Memories". San Jose Mercury News (Morning Final ed.). p. 3.
^Mills, Michael (30 December 1994). "It's a Fact: 'Pulp Fiction' Year's Best". The Palm Beach Post (Final ed.). p. 7.
^King, Dennis (25 December 1994). "SCREEN SAVERS in a Year of Faulty Epics, The Oddest Little Movies Made The Biggest Impact". Tulsa World (Final Home ed.). p. E1.
