Three Colours trilogy

The ''Three Colours'' trilogy (, ) is the collective title of three psychological drama films directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski: '' Three Colours: Blue'' (1993), '' Three Colours: White'' (1994), and '' Three Colours: Red'' (1994), represented by the Flag of France. The trilogy is an international co-production between France, Poland, and Switzerland in the French language, with the exception of ''White'' in Polish and French.

All three installments were co-written by Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz (with story consultants Agnieszka Holland and Sławomir Idziak), produced by Marin Karmitz and composed by Zbigniew Preisner. All three films garnered widespread acclaim from reviews, with ''Red'' receiving nominations for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography at the 67th Academy Awards.

Themes

Blue, white, and red are the colours of the French flag in hoist-to-fly order, and the story of each film is loosely based on one of the three political ideals in the motto of the French Republic: liberty, equality, fraternity. As with the treatment of the Ten Commandments in ''Dekalog'', the illustration of these principles is often ambiguous and ironic. As Kieślowski noted in an interview with an Oxford University student newspaper: "The words 'liberté, egalité, fraternité''are French because the money o fund the filmsis French. If the money had been of a different nationality, we would have titled the films differently, or they might have had a different cultural connotation. But the films would probably have been the same".

The trilogy has also been interpreted by film critic Roger Ebert as, respectively, an anti-tragedy, an anti-comedy, and an anti-romance.

Connections and patterns

A symbol common to the three films is that of an underlying link or thing that keeps the protagonist linked to their past. In the case of ''Blue'', it is the lamp of blue beads, and a symbol seen throughout the film in the TV of people falling (doing either sky diving or bungee jumping); the director is careful to show falls with no cords at the beginning of the film, but as the story develops the image of cords becomes more and more apparent as a symbol of a link to the past. In the case of ''White'' the item that links Karol to his past is a 2 Fr. coin and a plaster bust of Marianne that he steals from an antique store in Paris. In the case of ''Red'', the judge never closes or locks his doors and his fountain pen, which stops working at a crucial point in the story.

Another recurring image related to the spirit of the film is that of elderly people recycling bottles: In ''Blue'', an old woman in Paris is recycling bottles and Julie does not notice her (in the spirit of freedom); in ''White'', an old man also in Paris is trying to recycle a bottle but cannot reach the container and Karol looks at him with a sinister grin on his face (in the spirit of equality); and in ''Red'', an old woman cannot reach the hole of the container and Valentine helps her (in the spirit of fraternity).

In ''Blue'', while Julie is searching for her husband's mistress in the central courthouse, she accidentally steps into an active court trial and is immediately turned around by security. While Julie is peeking into the courtroom, Karol from ''White'' can be heard pleading to the judge in a scene that begins his chapter of the trilogy.

Each film's ending shot is of a character crying. In ''Blue'', Julie de Courcy cries looking into space. In ''White'', Karol cries as he looks at his wife. In ''Red'', the judge Kern cries as he looks through his broken window out at the camera.

Many main characters from ''Blue'' and ''White'', including Julie and Karol, appear at the ending of ''Red'' as survivors of a ferry accident.

Principal cast

;'' Three Colours: Blue''
* Juliette Binoche - Julie
* Benoît Régent - Olivier
* Florence Pernel - Sandrine
;'' Three Colours: White''
* Zbigniew Zamachowski - Karol
* Julie Delpy - Dominique
* Janusz Gajos - Mikolaj
;'' Three Colours: Red''
* Irène Jacob - Valentine
* Jean-Louis Trintignant - Joseph
* Jean-Pierre Lorit - Auguste

Soundtrack

Music for all three parts of the trilogy was composed by Zbigniew Preisner and performed by Silesian Philharmonic choir along with Sinfonia Varsovia.

Reception

The trilogy as a whole topped ''The San Diego Union-Tribune''s list of the best films of 1994, ranked third on ''San Jose Mercury News'' writer Glenn Lovell's year-end list, ten on a list by Michael Mills of ''The Palm Beach Post'', and was also on unranked top-tens list by ''Tulsa World''s Dennis King and ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' critics Eleanor Ringel and Steve Murray. Roger Ebert ranked the trilogy as a whole at No. 5 on his list of the "Best films of 1990s" and included it in his " Great Movies" list. ''Empire'' magazine ranked it #11 and #14 on their "The 33 Greatest Movie Trilogies" and "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" lists respectively.

References

External links

*
*
*

Voted #15 on The Arts and Faith Top 100 Films (2010)

Criterion Collection Essay
by Colin MacCabe

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Three Colours'' trilogy

1993 drama films
1993 films
1994 films
French film series
Films directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski
Films with screenplays by Krzysztof Kieślowski
Films produced by Marin Karmitz
French drama films
1990s French-language films
Polish drama films
Swiss drama films
1994 drama films
French-language Swiss films
1990s French films
Drama film series
Film series introduced in 1993
Films with screenplays by Krzysztof Piesiewicz
Films scored by Zbigniew Preisner