Three Colors: Red (Trois couleurs: Rouge, 1994)
Krzysztof Kieslowski
France, Poland, Switzerland
96 mins, color, French (English subtitles)
The last film in the THREE COLORS trilogy, RED is a deeply moving exploration into the deceptively comfortable life of Valentine (Irène Jacob), a successful model who lives in Geneva. She seems to be somewhat happy with a good career, and a loving boyfriend (or at least an overbearingly jealous one), and the little trouble she has is with her junkie brother and the fact that she has deserted her mother in France. When one night she runs over a dog, her life (literally) changes forever.
The chance encounter leads her to the dog's owner, the misanthropic retired Judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant), whose pastime is eavesdropping on his neighbors. At first, Valentine is repelled by the coarse intrusion into the cherished privacy of others. Yet, she cannot bring herself to stop it. She is strongly attracted to the Judge and in the end it is almost as if she has fallen in love with him. This new relationship leads her to question some of the things she has taken for granted, but never resolutely enough to cause her to make a clean break.
There are many strange coincidences, parallels, and nuances that make this film an art-house favorite. The young judge Auguste (Jean-Pierre Lorit), who goes through the emotional upheaval of a broken relationship when he discovers that his girlfriend is banging some sailor, is mysteriously re-living the Judge's professed life. At least, this is what critics uniformly claim and then go on to make much of the supposed coincidences and chances. I (disrespectfully) disagree. The Judge is an index for God. Consider this: first, and most obvious, he is a Judge (he may be retired but he still judges nonetheless); second, he intrudes in the privacy of others but leaves their fate to their own devices (Valentine comes to realize this fairly quickly; the act of eavesdropping is irrelevant, people are architects of their own undoing); third, he knows everything, including the future (his claims to the contrary notwithstanding, it was NOT his life story he was telling, it was Auguste's); fourth, he gives himself up (in a way to suffer for the sins of others); fifth, he does not blame the neighbors for breaking his windows out of hatred; and sixth, he orchestrates the "chance" survival and meeting of the two lonely souls, Valentine and Auguste (who presumably will live happily ever after).
The parallels are too obvious to be accidental. The bizarre scene, where the Judge extends his arms, as if expecting the repulsed Valentine to embrace him are also telling. "Do you expect something of me?" she asks. "Yes," comes the immediate reply. She fails to embrace him because she does not know him well yet. One is hard pressed to explain the attraction she begins to feel toward the decrepit loner, but it probably has a lot to do with how he views life. His attraction to her is the love God (presumably) has for the innocent. At one point Valentine says that if she ever had to come up before a judge, she would like him to be something like the Judge. "Innocents have no need for justice," says the Judge. He sees through Valentine, and that scares her and draws her to him. Through his prescience, he is closer to her than anybody else, including (and perhaps especially) her boyfriend, whom she cannot open to, and who cares little for her as long as she does not fuck some stray person or another. The emotional separation between these two is symbolized effectively by the telephone: all their communication takes place over the phone, and there is just as much misunderstanding, suspicions, explanations, and hang-ups as in a "normal" conversation. In contrast, she always visits the Judge, all their talks are face-to-face, and whatever is left unsaid, or whatever they think off-screen, forms a more intimate bond than any physical contact can. Interestingly, the two never touch, there's only one scene where they press hands on the opposite sides of a car window.
So I guess I liked the film. I particularly enjoyed the dreamy, if often apprehensive, performance of Irène Jacob, who is as talented as she is stunningly beautiful. For fans of slow, thoughtful, and masterfully shot films, RED is a gem. My biggest regret is that I was subjected to the pan-and-scan US release that was mercilessly butchered by the notorious scoundrels at Miramax. I can only guess at how effective the widescreen was/is.
June 4, 2001. BLS