The Color Trilogy by Krzysztof Kieślowski

By Simone Malacrida

The Color Trilogy, composed of films inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment and the French flag (Blue, White and Red), is by far Krzysztof Kieślowski's most renowned and appreciated work, as well as his last artistic testimony.
Beyond the first appearance, it conceals hidden meanings and obvious correspondences with what has already been staged in previous films and which will be an inspiration and comparison for the public and for those involved in the cinematographic environment.
In this book we will analyze in detail the links and meanings, the meaning and style of each of the three films and will draw a common overall vision in relation to the entire production of the Polish director.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simone Malacrida
• Release date: Oct 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223417439

Simone Malacrida

Simone Malacrida (1977) Ha lavorato nel settore della ricerca (ottica e nanotecnologie) e, in seguito, in quello industriale-impiantistico, in particolare nel Power, nell'Oil&Gas e nelle infrastrutture. E' interessato a problematiche finanziarie ed energetiche. Ha pubblicato un primo ciclo di 21 libri principali (10 divulgativi e didattici e 11 romanzi) + 91 manuali didattici derivati. Un secondo ciclo, sempre di 21 libri, è in corso di elaborazione e sviluppo.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 - FILMS' TECHNICAL SHEETS

CHAPTER 2 – THE IDEA AND THE STRUCTURE

CHAPTER 3 – THEMES AND MEANINGS

CHAPTER 4 – CORRESPONDENCES

CHAPTER 5 – FINDINGS AND SUBSEQUENT EVOLUTIONS

CONCLUSIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

The opinions and reflections present in this book represent the author's personal ideas and are the result of multiple viewings of all the films of the Color Trilogy (and the other works of director Krzysztof Kieślowski).

All this has been integrated with what is present in the Bibliography section, drawing valid ideas from past interviews and analyses.

The Color Trilogy, composed of films inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment and the French flag (Blue, White and Red), is by far Krzysztof Kieślowski's most renowned and appreciated work, as well as his last artistic testimony.

Beyond the first appearance, it conceals hidden meanings and obvious correspondences with what has already been staged in previous films and which will be an inspiration and comparison for the public and for those involved in the cinematographic environment.

In this book we will analyze in detail the links and meanings, the meaning and style of each of the three films and will draw a common overall vision in relation to the entire production of the Polish director.

" Why not try to see what meaning the words freedom, equality and brotherhood have today on a very human, intimate and personal level and not on a philosophical, much less political or social level? "

Interview by Krzysztof Kieślowski given to Danusia Stok and present in the book Kieślowski tells Kieślowski

I NTRODUCTION

Among the filmography of Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski, his most famous and prominent work is certainly what is known as The Color Trilogy, that is, three films (trilogy) dedicated to the colors of the French flag (blue, white and red) and , in return, to the concepts underlying the French Revolution and the Enlightenment (freedom, equality and brotherhood).

These are the most awarded and most internationally distributed films, as well as the latest produced by the director.

There have been interesting studies and insights around them, but just as many attempts at simplification.

This book was born from the need to make a point, not to leave out anything from these works, going well beyond the pure film review which, in itself, should be as concise as a newspaper article.

However, a biography of the director will not be exposed, following his artistic evolution and the path that led him to conceive and create the Trilogy.

There will also be space for this, as one of the fundamental pieces, but the aim of the book is to focus on all aspects of the Trilogy, from the meanings to the plot, from public feedback to the countless connections.

As such, the target audience will be both those who already know, at least briefly, Kieślowski's production and those who are unfamiliar with it and want to approach watching the films in a non-superficial way.

Let's say right away that each of Kieślowski's works can be viewed, read and interpreted at various levels and it depends on the will and sensitivity of the viewer to understand how far one wants to probe meanings and symbols.

A first level is the pure and simple viewing of a film or several films.

Seeing and witnessing the fictional staging of a story.

A second level is the understanding of the single work, scratching the surface and the apparent image.

This level requires greater reflection and a first leap into the intricate tangle of the Polish director, who, far from wanting to be considered commercial and mass-produced, peppers each of his creations with infinite references.

The third level concerns the pigeonholing of each film of the Trilogy in the context of the cycle.

In fact, although each film is complete and complete in itself, if viewed from the perspective of the cycle there is a further leap forward and we delve even further into the abyss that opens up in front of us.

It must be said that, in this case, it would be better to view the films in the order of presentation and production, i.e. first Three Colors: Blue, then Three Colors: White and finally Three Colors: Red, otherwise they will get lost those bonds and connections that make this work one of a kind.

A final level, certainly more difficult to reach, is connected to Kieślowski's entire path, that is, placing the Trilogy as the final point of a path that started many years before.

In this sense, the minimum reading includes the Decalogue, ten medium-length films produced for Polish television in 1988, and The Double Life of Veronica, a film released in 1991.

Wanting to go even further back, we can include Senza fine from 1985 and Destino blind from 1981, first feature films that see Kieślowski's progressive detachment from his previous works as a documentary filmmaker.

Each level mentioned requires greater reflection and an in-depth study of the themes of the Trilogy.

From these few words, we understand how these final films (and not by the director's will, but due to his sudden death) are the result of a long journey and a profound introspective reflection that has led to the explosion of production in the last period by Kieślowski.

If I can add a personal note about the Trilogy, this book completes a further triptych, this time completely mine and not Kieślowski's.

The book, in fact, is the third of a trilogy that starts from the analysis of the Decalogue and continues with The double life of Veronica.

Even in this case, understanding the book can take place on multiple levels.

Arriving at the end of this manuscript, you will have all the main information for the (almost) definitive understanding of the Trilogy, it is understood that everything has been filtered by the sensitivity of the author and that each one has its own mechanisms and different angles, but, following in the footsteps of Kieślowski, if you want to grasp everything on a higher level, you cannot isolate the Trilogy from the rest of the production.

In fact, a work of art does not exist in itself.

It exists in relation to an audience and, indeed, draws its own life from the audience, completely detaching itself from the wishes of the author himself.

And it was the public that determined the central role of the Trilogy, the same public that, after thirty years, when faced with the events narrated, has no difficulty in identifying although the way of scriptwriting has completely changed now, with much more pace and action, at the expense of reflection and introspection.

This is the real secret of Kieślowski.

The investigation is on man and it does so in a profound way, as only a former documentary maker has learned.

It leaves nothing out, it doesn't sugarcoat anything, it doesn't pose happy false endings or definitive solutions that are as cathartic as they are illusory.

He makes no concessions in human existence, showing all the defects, shortcomings and mistakes, but without ever judging.

He does not set himself up as the holder of Truth and Morality, rather he tries to undermine the certainties of every spectator.

It's a slow but steady way of proceeding.

A long march that marks distances and flows inexorably, like life itself does.

In such a context, the actors move through intense interpretations, with a role dedicated to women of primary importance, together with two enormous pillars of Kieślowski's cinema.

On the one hand the music, through the soundtracks of the trusted and brilliant Zbigniew Preisner, on the other hand the colors, recalled right from the titles.

From this inseparable experience of sounds and images, dialogues and silences, actions and thoughts, the plot unfolds on spatial and temporal planes that return to themselves, like an infinite spherical Cosmos, but with the fundamental evolution of the characters, called to transition from an initial thesis to a final synthesis, after an external journey mirroring the internal one.

This contains all the concepts dear to Kieślowski and already present in previous works, together with the intertwining of Chance and Necessity, Choice and Will.

The final message is complex and intricate, as is Life and as is man, the final point of the investigation, the same from which we started at the beginning.

CHAPTER 1 - FILMS' TECHNICAL SHEETS

THREE COLORS – BLUE

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Plot

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The film opens with a shot of a car wheel, followed by images of the road, lights and other means of transport distorted and reflected from the rear window and which attract the attention of a little girl in the rear seat of the vehicle .

The car stops and a woman's voice is heard calling the little girl, named Anne, and a man driving the vehicle.

A