Part-time model Valentine unexpectedly befriends a retired judge after she runs over his dog. At first, the grumpy man shows no concern about the dog, and Valentine decides to keep it. But the two form a bond when she returns to his house and catches him listening to his neighbors’ phone calls.
04 Dec Three Colors: Red (1994)
The Folded Present
In addition – or perhaps in spite of – what you have heard, this trilogy is organised around the three main choices one can take in narrative stance. ‘Blue’ was about the past, ‘White’ about the ‘conditional’ future(s) and this one about the present. Or rather about a couple instances of the present that overlap: is their really only one judge, one lost love, one dead battery, one hooked brother?
The folding of the present uses the folding mechanism of watching: us as watchers, Much of the world watching Valentine through cameras, runways, TeeVee. The judge-with- qualms monitoring. And all of these folded against the others.
And on top of it, Kieslowski has assembled a design team that produces one of the lushest visions on film, taking the folding metaphor into the framing, especially in the various rooms.
If you know what he is attempting here: three essays on the role of the viewer in creating the ‘time’ of the film world, it makes all three that much richer. But here we have his most sublime success, a perfect synthesis that people can enjoy even if they know not why. And that’s the point, isn’t it?
Oh, and each of the trilogy focuses on a sense: here, it is sound.
Posted in 2004
Ted’s Evaluation — 4 of 3: Every cineliterate person should experience this.
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