"White" reminded me of some lines from a Grémillon movie, Remorques (1941), spoken by Capitaine Laurent, "Say, Tanguy. You came to see me about your wife. You were wrong. And so was I, to give you advice. What goes on between two people, no one else can understand." It had become public knowledge that Tanguy's wife sleeps about. And yet, this is not to say that Tanguy's marriage is a bad one, just that it is far more complicated than many assume. In White, we see such a "complicated" marriage, and Kieslowski tries as hard as possible to let us inside that which "goes on between two people", which is strange indeed. The strangeness is reflected in the expression of Aleksander Bardini's notary, when he stops typing as Karol says he wants everything in his will to be left to "my ex wife Dominique".
Karol does the thing that we're always told not to do these days, he puts Dominique on a pedestal, literally reflected by a bust he purchases. I think if a relationship movie were being made today no-one would sympathise with this character, but for people of my generation certainly, it might make a lot of sense. Like Karol, the sole reason I entered the capitalist system was to earn enough money that a woman would take me seriously. The sheer weirdness of romance here is what I like so much. I also love how Kieslowski understands that we all privately lead mystical lives, and this is why his collaborations are important, Zbigniew Preisner and Edward Klosinski are onboard to get that effect, the music and cinematography are critical.
The movie is funny, the first major link we have to "white" is a bird urinating on Karol, and the reintroduction to Poland via a garbage heap has a good line; despite this there was not a single laugh in the threatre I sat in, White is a droll movie rather than a raucous one.
Finally some life advice, to add to the drollery. Never fire a blank out of a pistol at point blank range next to someone's heart. You may well kill them! A blank is still an explosion and still produces ejecta.
Karol does the thing that we're always told not to do these days, he puts Dominique on a pedestal, literally reflected by a bust he purchases. I think if a relationship movie were being made today no-one would sympathise with this character, but for people of my generation certainly, it might make a lot of sense. Like Karol, the sole reason I entered the capitalist system was to earn enough money that a woman would take me seriously. The sheer weirdness of romance here is what I like so much. I also love how Kieslowski understands that we all privately lead mystical lives, and this is why his collaborations are important, Zbigniew Preisner and Edward Klosinski are onboard to get that effect, the music and cinematography are critical.
The movie is funny, the first major link we have to "white" is a bird urinating on Karol, and the reintroduction to Poland via a garbage heap has a good line; despite this there was not a single laugh in the threatre I sat in, White is a droll movie rather than a raucous one.
Finally some life advice, to add to the drollery. Never fire a blank out of a pistol at point blank range next to someone's heart. You may well kill them! A blank is still an explosion and still produces ejecta.