_Three Colors: Red_ in the year 2023
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septimus_millenicom@q.com@21:1/5 to
All on Sun Sep 17 10:34:07 2023
(or, as subtitle I have borrowed before, the
Evening Redness in the West)
I must have seen _Red_ once on the big screen the last
decade, for the tenth time. But the last time I wrote
about _Red_ was during the Kieslowski retrospective
10 years after his death. I meant to catch the entire
trilogy in Denver, but once there -- finding absolutely
no one else in the theater -- I just caught _Red_
three times in a row. It is film so extraordinarily
rich in themes, symbolism, visual and aural cues, it
gives you sensory overload after just one viewing. The
2nd of the 3 times I had to take it easy to recover ...
I have already said too much about the overarching
thematic and structural underpinning of these films,
likely unconsciously repeating what Annette Insdorf,
Dave Kehr, and other critics have written. _Red_
in particular reflects Kieslowski's stated world view
perfectly. He claims his influences to be the Bible,
Shakespeare, and Camus. The New Testament's
Resurrection theme features heavily in all three films.
Jean-Louie Trintignant's retired judge Joseph Kern -- who
may or may not be a magician, a fallen god -- is _The
Tempest_'s Prospero, aided by his ultra-sentient German
Shepherd Rita which is both Ariel and Caliban. (Her
seven puppies foreshadow the ferry's seven survivors,
reborn from the sea.) He is also _The Fall_'s
judge-penitent, freely confessing to his own failings
only to turn the table and implicate us all.
_Blue_, _White_, and _Red_ also follow the Self-Other-
Intersubjectivity progression in _Being and Nothingness_,
with _Red_, the grand synthesis, freely playing variations
on the other two. Kern cuts himself off from humanity
like _Blue_'s protagonist Julie, as well as the depressive
Mikolaj in _White_, yet this embittered man could be exactly
who Karol (_White_) grew would have become were he less
of a striving manipulator. Valentine (Irene Jacob) has
Karol's neediness (Kern in contrast "wants nothing"), but
she shares the ethereal idealism and anti-materialistic
decency of Julie. The heart of the film is the three long,
philosophical conversations between Valentine and the
judge, touching on their own experiences but also the
frailties and secret lives of his neighbors, whose phone
calls he eavesdrop on. Only one family (with a closet
gay father, whom Kern predicts will off himself soon),
and a drug dealer, are seen. This seems to violate cinema's
show-don't-tell dictum, but here _Red_ benefits from
being the anchor of the trilogy. We have already glimpsed
a version of the dying mother in _Blue_ (Emmanuelle
Riva), plenty of demimonde and gangsters in _White_ (in a
Paris subway station, and all over Poland). When the
judge describes seeing his fiancee in bed with another
man, we naturally think of Julie Delpy in _White_. In
abstract and concrete ways, the three films amplify and
fulfill each other.
_Red_ could have been a depressing film but the stunning
camera work and the heartfelt performances give it an
exuberance; tragedy turns into transcendence. Rewatching
it today I am struck by Piotr Sobocinski's tactile swagger.
The camera is everywhere -- we have endless intricate
crane shots and steadicam moves -- as if it is furtive German
Shepherd, eavesdropping on everyone. The dolly shot at
the bowling alley is like a trickster shot at the pool
table. The clean, sweeping panorama in Valenti's rear view
mirror bring tears to our eyes, not just hers. _Red_ simply
boasts the greatest interior cinematography ever recorded.
Kern's mansion has so many mirrors and reflecting surfaces,
yet Sobocinski manages to navigate its nooks and crannies
unscathed. Natural light sources and shaded corridors
are milked for maximal effect. (Kieslowski may admire
Orson Welles but there is no deep focus photography --
the onus is always on the characters.) At times Valentine's
incursion feels like homage to the final act in _Silence
of the Lambs_ (the "crushed skull" line is a dead giveaway).
The judge and Valentine take turn circling each other,
menacing, cowering, retreating into shadows, opening up to
the beautiful light. Conversations on film can be so bland,
yet Sobocinski and Kieslowski turn the clash of worldviews
into such a dynamic dance. The two fashion show scenes,
with flashlights exploding in Valentine's face like
overheated halos, are among the many visual treats of
_Red_. _Blue_ and _White_ have memorable images, but
there is not a single shot in the trilogy finale which
is not out-of-this-world brilliant.
Irene Jacob expresses every emotion as though experiencing
it for the first time. Kieslowski is said to have directed
her within inches of her face, and her sheer intensity takes
your breath away. It isn't just in her face; her hands,
constantly twirling, knotting an antenna or a string (she
does it in _Double Life_ too), or crushing a plastic cup,
add to the ferocity of her performance. And no actress has
moved with such ballet dancer's natural grace. Trintignant
imbues the jaded judge with chilling charisma -- the fate of the
world seems to flow out of his walking stick, or the toss
of a Swiss Franc in his hand. But behind the facade lies
such quiet self-hatred. The water-spilling scene, hinting
at incontinence, could have come straight out of Samuel
Beckett. Auguste, the judge's would-be younger self and
destined to meet Valentine, also has a preternatural, child-
like innocence. I think Kieslowski and cowriter Piesiewicz's
most poignant stories are those about fathers and (possibly
surrogate) daughters, like in _Double Life_, and in _Dekalog
4_ starring _White_'s Janusz Gajos. The relationship
between younger man and vastly more worldly women (_Dekalog
6_, _White_ may also qualify) is not far behind. _Red_,
not coincidentally, features both. The director of _No
End_, _Blind Chance_, and _Camera Buff_, who has lived
through societal disappointment in communist Poland, surely
identifies with the weary judge, but he is also
extraordinarily protective of the younger generation in
whom he bestow his fondest benediction.
Preisner's Bolero dominants the score and emphasizes
the ballet-quality of the film. But the sound design
is in fact dominated by ambient sounds, especially
the ever-present fog-horns and airplane engine noise
which foreshadow the eerie ending. One can write
entire dissertations about the production design of
the lived-in clutter. Whereas Julie's apartment in
_Blue_ is spare as a Navy Seal's quarters, the judge's
mansion is filled with tantalizingly symbolic objects
-- statuettes of dogs, stones thrown through windows
and look like ancient relics or asteroids, framed old
master-lite paintings pregnant with meaning. Valentine's
abode is sleeker, with posters of modern art amidst the
barely controlled chaos, kitchenware spread out like a
play-pen; Auguste's is dominated by the painting of,
what else, a ballet dancer. One day I will break out
my Criterion blu ray and document every object, frame
by frame, and see what they could mean.
_Red_ is set in Geneva, halfway between Julie's Paris
and Karol's Poland. I visited Geneva once, on a
_Red_ pilgrimage, even walking as far as Pinchat in
the suburb of Carouge to find the judge's house. I
could not quite find that "No. 6" location, but did see
the apartment complex where Karin (Auguste's lover,
who will betray him) lives. I quickly realized the
exterior scenes could not be shot in Carouge, which
is on the wrong side of the Alps to permit those
enigmatic sunset visages. Google maps must not be
as good back then; now it clearly shows "Rue de
Source," where Valentine and Auguste live, as a tiny
stretch of a street alongside "Blvd des Philosophes"
south of the University of Geneva. The university, the
Grand Theatre de Geneva where the fashion shows
supposedly take place, and Carouge all lie south of
Lake Geneva; the scenic expense of water at the foot
of the hill where Valentine shed tears driving down
from the judge's place is clearly geographical
fiction. Geneva is a beautiful place, a mix of
modernity and the oldest of old towns where you can
get lost forever.
Jean-Louis Trintignant passed away in 2022 after
making at least another dozen notable film. Jean-
Louie Lorit, who plays Auguste, is still active in
films, playing many supporting characters. Frederique
Feder (Karin) directed a short starring Irene Jacob
but has since disappeared from cinema. Piotr
Sobocinski, who also shot _Dekalog 3_, staked claim
to being the world's greatest cinematographer after
_Red_, but died of a heart attack at age 43. (These
Polish geniuses clearly need to curb their cigarette
habit.) But in keeping with the rebirth theme of
the trilogy, his son, going by the same name, has
become an established director of cinematography in
his own right. Assistant director Emmanuel Finkiel
left his mark in _Memoir of War_ and the Kieslowskique
_Voyages_. Irene Jacob has remained beloved by
cinephiles and auteurs. The most demure of
Kieslowski's French Three Graces, she continues to
astound with her mature beauty; her recent supporting
roles has taken on a Fanny Ardant elegance. Jacob
may not have the acting career of Juliette Binoche or
the film school pedigree of Julie Delpy, but has added
a singing career to her resume, and was recently
elected to lead the Lumiere Institute after Tavernier
passed away. The gods of cinema have always loved
her most; she has the distinction of a meta-film cameo
in "the OA" -- surely the only 2010s TV or streaming
series that rivals the trilogy's ambition, and a
worthy heir to Kieslowski's spiritual quest. Most
importantly, the judge predicts that her character
Valentine will have a contented life with her partner
when she is 50. Jacob turned 50 a few years ago, and
I have no doubt Kieslowski's prophecy has come true.
I am about the same age as Irene Jacob. When I first
saw _Red_ I was blown away by its cathartic humanism.
You almost wanted to be a better person, if only for
a few hours, to feel worthy of having witnessed such
a miracle on film. That was the heady days of Europe
reunification. Now I am approaching Trintignant's
age when he made _Red_. Even as my admiration for
the fully realized artistry grows -- _Red_ is without
question the greatest film of all time -- it has become
harder to summon the idealism needed to fully immerse
in it. For _Red_ to be _The Tempest_ or the New
Testament, Kieslowski has asked us to take a leap of
faith and make our own best interpretation of the
judge, left exquisitely ambiguous in the screenplay.
Perhaps it is time for another pilgrimage to Geneva
to rediscover that much needed faith in auteurist
cinema.
(for A.)
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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