Three Colors: White

Ostensibly Kieslowski chose white of the French flag to make a movie on equality. Equality if it can be reached in marriage, makes it work. Marriage is rocked when an equilibrium is not reached. A dove can be caressed and be a symbol of peace and purity; a dove can defecate and dirty as well

White in the movie is used as an epiphany of the joyous moments in marriage. The doves are weaved in Kieslowski visually and aurally to accentuate the marriage as a rite of passage in life. He brings in the phrase "light at the end of the tunnel" towards the end of the film. There is another marriage, that of Mikolaj in the subplot that also survives in a strange way.

The film begins with divorce proceedings and ends with the wife signalling the reinstatement of the wedding ring on her finger. The film begins with husband recalling the wedding that has failed. The doves flying overhead unload excreta on him. Towards the end of the film, the husband again recalls the wedding as he sets off for the wife's prison.

Kieslowski's treatise on equality is based on marriage as a great leveller with the doves flutter captured on the soundtrack appearing as a frequent reminder of marital bonds. It even appears in the underground metro, an unlikely place if you have a logical mind. You have to throw away logic if you need to enjoy this film.

There are aspects of the film that are obviously unrealistic. Putting a grown man in a suitcase and letting the suitcase go through airport security is not feasible. Moreover, the director shows the heavy suitcase perched precariously on a luggage cart. Impossible to believe all these details.

But the deeper question is whether Kieslowski was using marriage as a metaphor for politics? There is the mention of the Russian corpse with the head crushed for sale, there is a mention of the neon sign that sputters...The name Karol Karol seems reminiscent of Kafka.

Sex in this film is not to be taken at face value. Impotence of Karol Karol at strategic points of the film is deceptive. He apparently does more than hair care for women clients at his hair care parlor in Poland (suggested, not shown). I have a great admiration for Polish cinema, having gown up watching works of Wajda and Zanussi. I met Kieslowski in 1982 when he attended an international film festival in Bangalore, India, promoting his film "Camera Buff," another film with Jerzy Stuhr, who plays Jurek in "White". I took note of "Camera Buff" but I could not imagine the director of "Camera Buff" would evolve into a perfectionist a decade later. Stuhr has been metamorphosed from a live wire in "Camera Buff" to an effeminate colleague of Karol Karol in "White". "White" is a carefully made work with support of other top Polish directors in the wings--Zanussi and Agniezka Holland.

Although the film is heavy in symbolism, it is also a parody. Karol Karol comes to kill with a blank bullet and a real one. Did he plan that out, when he did not know who he was going to shoot?

The performances are all brilliant--the good Polish, Hungarian, and Czech filmmakers extract performances from their actors that could humble Hollywood directors, because the stars are not the actors but the directors. Great music. Great photography. And a very intelligent script.

This is a major film of the nineties--providing superb wholesome entertainment and food for thought. The film deservedly won Kieslowski the "best director" award at the Berlin Film festival in 1994. It is sad for the world of cinema that Kieslowski is no longer with us.

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.

It is not only difficult to comment separately on the three parts of Kieslowski's trilogy, it seems obvious that the filmmaker wants us to do just the opposite: view them in order, Blue, White, and Red, and consider them together as one complete work. It is true they are distinct stories with distinct themes: liberty, equality, fraternity, and each them is developed with unique applications of intrigue and artistry. They are each well worth seeing independently, but I believe they are best seen as one work. Collectively, I would rate the trilogy as a 9; separately, I place each in my top ten for the years 1993 and 1994.

White is the fabric of a bride, chaste and pure at the outset of her marriage; later it is the flash of an orgasm in the dark; and then .... But any more said of the instances of white in this film might spoil it for the first-time viewer. Unlike Three Colors: Blue, White is a more plot-oriented movie, with two main characters to Blue's one. And this is as it should be. Blue's theme of Liberty, the first word of France's motto, is an individual's principle, while White's theme of Equality, the French motto's second word, requires at least two people. The central quest for liberty is personal; the struggle for equality is fundamentally social. White is the most conventional of the three Color films, and while it is still one of my ten top films of 1994, I rate it an 8, slightly less than the highly visual Blue and the mind-bending Red.

The second film in Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Blue, White & Red" trilogy, "White" (1993), is decidedly lighter in tone than its predecessor and should manage to appeal to a wider audience. In it we meet Karol Karol, a Polish hairdresser living in Paris who has just been divorced by his wife Dominique (the gorgeous Julie Delpy, who is not unfairly compared to the Brigitte Bardot of "Contempt" in this picture), due to a spell of impotence. At first blush something of a nebbish, Karol soon shows that he is nevertheless quite the resourceful character. Back in his wintry-white native land, he manages to somehow get back on his feet, rebuild his life despite numerous adversities--as had Juliette Binoche in "Blue"--and even contrive a get-even scheme involving his ex. As in the previous film, the directing and photography are just outstanding, and Zbigniew Zamachowski is at once sympathetic, funny and charismatic in "White"'s lead role. Sharp-eyed fans of "Blue" will note Ms. Binoche's Julie character in "White"'s opening courtroom scene, as well as the same old lady at the recycling bin (this latter background character would also, strangely, resurface in "Red"); just some fun elements to help tie this loosely linked trio of films together, I suppose. Despite being a bit more straightforward than the other two films in the trilogy, "White" still offers food for thought, as well as some puzzling moments. For example, viewers who will be able to interpret Delpy's hand gestures at the tail end of the picture are certainly better than me. (Then again, I've always been pretty bad at any hand pantomime more involved than a raised middle finger; guess I'd make a lousy deaf person!) Fortunately, Delpy explains these mysterious gestures for us in one of the DVD's copious extras. I'm also somewhat at a loss as to how the color white's corresponding to "equality" on the French flag pertains here. Are we supposed to think that Karol and Dominique are equals of sorts by the film's end? I suppose so. The white of the title can just as easily be regarded, though, as corresponding to the sweet and pleasing center of an Oreo cookie, in the middle of two decidedly darker segments...

Krzysztof Kieslowski's second of the Three Colors trilgy' "White" (1994), is a much more simple film than its predecessor, "Blue" (1993).

We follow Karol, who is divorced from Dominique, who cruelly attempts to hurt Karol in the worst ways possobly, especially considering her still loves her deeply.

Visually, it is almost as impressive a film as "Blue", also drawing on symbolism in its visual storytelling, and the acting is brilliant - particularly Julie Delpy portraying Dominique.

In spite of an interesting plot, I did not find the film to be nearly as touching as "Blue", but rather cruel in its message and execution.

For me, definitely a weaker film than its predecessor, but holding several qualities of its own. I wouldn't recommend anyone to see this as a must-see - especially from the trilogy.