Three Colors: Red Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: Three Colors: Red
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Year: 1994
Country: France
Language: French

Krzysztof Kieslowski's third part of his Three Colors Trilogy is an exquisite masterpiece that not only connects Blue, White and Red but discusses a great deal regarding fraternity and the connections within society. Three Colors: Red is a film that I was not particularly interested in seeing, especially since Blue and White were some of the best French films I have seen and I was worried Red would not live up to it's potential. Wow, was I wrong. It is  the best crafted of the three and perhaps the most resounding.

This film is about Valentine (Irene Jacob) who is a young model living in Geneva. Because of a dog she ran over, she meets a retired judge (Jean Trintignant) who spies his neighbours' phone calls, not for money but to feed his cynicism. The film is the story of relationships between some human beings, Valentine and the judge, but also other people who may not be aware of the relationship they have with Valentine and/or  the old judge.

 It is difficult to discuss this film and not talk about the rest of the Three Colors Trilogy, as Red not only is about the connection between humans but between the films as well. It is quite interesting how the colours of each film are somewhat the opposite of the characters and plot. The colour white represents purity and innocence yet nobody is innocent in White, everybody harms one another. The colour blue represents depression (feeling blue) yet Blue is essentially about a woman who gets out of her depression.. The colour Red represents great anger, hate and  passion yet Valentine and he judge's relationship is purely friendship, even Auguste who sees his wife cheat on him is not enraged with hate.

Each colour of the French flag represents something. Blue is for liberty, white is for equality, red is for fraternity. However, each colour applies to each film. In Blue Juliet Binoche liberates herself from extreme depression. How? by connecting with people (fraternity) and realizing that others have had similar experiences (equality). In White, Karol Karol liberates himself from his wife. How? by putting her in the same position he was in (equality) through a plot orchestrated by friends (fraternity). In Red the old judge is liberated from his cynicism. How? by first reporting himself to the police for listening on his neighbor's calls  (equality) and befriending Valentine (fraternity).

I am convinced that Kieslowski is a master of Cinema. His cinematography is uncanny, the editing is well thought out. Like in Blue and White the story of the film is really all in the first scene. We see telephone wires that stretch for miles and miles, through ocean and underground. It shows us all these connection and it's a film about the interconnectedness of all things. A film about losing connections and gaining connections, which is essentially what life is except the boring parts of life are edited out. Kieslowski shows us images in the beginning of the film (Valentine in a photoshoot) and then comes back to them later in the film (Valentine on a boat in a similar pose) to show that even the images are connected and therefore extremely important to remember.

In conclusion, it is hard to say what my favourite film of the Three Colors Trilogy is because they are all masterpieces and they all connect with each other. These are films that I would love to watch over and over again, if I can I will watch all three in one sitting. Blue, White and Red tell us volumes about life, love, loss and society. Watching these will be an experience unlike any other, it makes the Star Wars Trilogy (which is somehow regarded as the best of all time by mainstream magazines) seem like mindless junk. Praise it! 5/5