8/10
Conjugal wickedness that cries out for vengeance
29 April 2005
WHITE IS THE COLOR OF DOMINIQUE'S WEDDING DRESS at the exit of the church, surrounded by the blazing whiteness of an overexposed background, full of subtle symbolisms imbued with hypnotic nuances. WHITE is the glimmer of the impending reflexes in the background of a lazy town buried under the snow. WHITE is the bust of a statue caressed as a memento of a love irremediably lost. WHITE is Dominique's final orgasm, a real scream of liberation from the yoke of her spiteful stubbornness, the false revenge of a woman unaware of her impending calamity, completely unacquainted with the bitter game of make-believe inspired by a wickedness that cries out for vengeance. According to Karol, the main character, it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. His desire for revenge blows out his residual flickering flame of love after having suffered unforgivable affronts devised by his heartless wife.

"Trzy kolory: Bialy" (Three colors: White), second episode inspired to the three colors of the French flag and to the three principles of the French Revolution (Freedom, Equality and Fraternity), brings back to us two old acquaintances, Zbigniew Zamachowski (very similar to the pathetic Italian character Fantozzi,) and Jerzy Stuhr. It may be considered the most unforeseeable movie of the whole colors trilogy, full of sharp and witty tones of grotesque melodrama, with a reluctant and peevish Julie Delphy never seen so cold-mannered on the screen before. The inborn sense of Kieslovski's BLACK humor comes out here in all its might almost counterbalancing the concept of absolute WHITE connected with he story.

"Three colors: white" is very different from the other two episodes of the trilogy, but nonetheless the unmistakable touch of the genius can be generously found in the accurate care of the details, in the emotional intensity of the dialogs, in the careful analysis of the individual values, in his safe distance from the events represented by him, in his constant application of the principle of casualness and in his large use of metaphors (look for instance at the sequences of simultaneous flights of pigeons, symbolizing an open concept of freedom often cherished in his works). And Julie Delphy's following words sound as a sort of sincere homage to Kieslovski's art: "Kieslowski is a director who draws his inspiration from the true life of people, who instills his own soul into his movie, who dwells upon the details as if he wanted to examine the life under a microscope." Absolutely true. There is nothing else left to say: "Three colors: red" looms on the horizon.
55 out of 66 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed