Rocks that Move

4. THREE COLORS: RED (1994)
directed by Krysztof Kieslowski
starring Irene Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jean-Pierre Lorit, Frederique Feder

"I feel something important is happening around me. And it scares me."

"Red" is the third and final installment of Kieslowski's "Three Colors" trilogy. In all three films, there is a little old lady that appears briefly, trying unsuccessfully to put a bottle in a tall public recycling bin that she cannot quite reach. I have never quite figured out what she symbolizes, but I know she means something. Everything in a Kieslowski movie means something. The names of the movies are based on the French flag, and represent liberty, equality, and fraternity. "Red" is fraternity. It is about brotherhood and love. Pure brotherhood, pure love; the things that bind all human beings together. It is about the connection between people. Though a part of a trilogy, you do not need to see all three films to enjoy "Red." The film stands on its own, though the other films do lend a little insight into the symbols used, and inform you on who all the characters are in the end. Regardless, if you only see one of Kieslowski's films, this is the one to see. It is the final film he made before he retired and died, perhaps from overworking himself, and it is the summary of all his work.

This film starts, interestingly, with a young attorney answering his telephone in France. Auguste, the attorney, exists along a secondary story line from the the main characters. He drives a red jeep, owns a small dog, smokes Marlboro cigarettes, and is in love with a young meteorologist. They talk on the phone, go bowling, and meet up at his apartment on different occassions until she betrays him and leaves him for another man. One day as he is crossing the street, the strap on his books breaks, and they all fall into the street. He has been studying for the exam that he must pass in order to become a judge. As he stoops down, he reads a page that is open in one of the books. That page ends up being the all-important question on the exam that helps him to pass. A lucky coincidence? Or was it destiny?

Kieslowski loved making movies that asked all-important questions that we all face everyday. Who are we? Why are we here? What is important in life? What can we do to make ourselves happy? What can we do to make our world a better place? Do we have free will? Or are we subject to fate? Kieslowski never answers these questions. It would be vanity to do so. He does make suggestions in a vague enough way where you can figure it out for yourself, and "Red" is the ultimate example. It is a tale of destiny and/or coincidence. Which one it is becomes is up to the spectator. The color red becomes a driving symbol in this context, or perhaps even a force in the film. It can symbolize so many things. It can be a symbol for blood, anger, power, passion, warmth, or even love. At one point or another in the film, it is all of these.

The main character of the film, played by Irene Jacob, is a gentle and spirited Swiss model named (of course) Valentine. She lives near Auguste, and they both come within inches of meeting one another on multiple occassions, but they never connect. Valentine is a compassionate and good person, helping the old woman with the recycle bin when the characters in the other two movies would not. Her boyfriend is distant and indifferent. Her brother is a drug addict. Her mother is alone. Her tremendous desire to solve their problems causes feelings of helplessness, but though you can hear the pain in her voice, her glowing spirit never seems to fade. When she goes into the neighboring restaurant and plays the slot machine, she always loses, and her and the owner share a smile. Although the issues, symbols, circumstances, and emotions are very complex in this film... the plot is very simple. Her brother is on the cover of the newspaper in an article about drug abuse, and she fears her mother will see it. She plays the slot machine and wins (three red cherries). "That's a bad sign," the owner sighs. "I think I know why I won," she answers.

Later she is driving and she hits a dog, but when she takes the dog to its owner, she finds that he, too, is indifferent and callous. "Don't you want her?" she asks. "I want nothing," he replies. "Then stop breathing," she retorts. "Good idea," is his response. She takes the dog, Rita, but later Rita runs back to the old man and Valentine finds out his secret: he spies on his neighbors' phone conversations with high tech surveillance equipment. A mother lies to her daughter. A meteorologist talks to her lover, a young attorney. A gay man hides his secret from his wife and family. Why does he do this? He, himself, admits that it is illegal. He tells her to tell them. He even points out the house where the gay man lives, and she goes... but the wife is so friendly, and a little girl is listening on the other line. To tell them could break up their family. She returns to the judge, feeling defeated. She could not do it. Why? Remorse? Guilt? The judge explains that whether he listens or not, it does not matter. None of these people truly communicate with each other. Communication hurts. The mother lies to get attention. The meteorologist isn't really right for the lawyer. The gay man's secret will be found out regardless, and there will be scandal.

Then something unusual happens. He connects with Valentine. He senses her sorrow, and being the busy body he is, he inquires. In fact, although he cannot spy on her (she lives too far away), he already knows. "It was not hard to guess," he explains. He also senses that she is good, perhaps in a way that he had suspected did not really exist. But when he goes too far in his inquisition, she tells him to stop listening to other people's conversations. It is wrong. But instead of despising the man, she pities him as she leaves. Later, however, when she finds out he has been caught, she returns to tell him she did not tell. He already knows, because as soon as she left, he turned himself in. He was compelled by her tears, and the desire to see her again. Connection. Everyone talks on the phone in "Red." Hardly anyone is face-to-face. No one is connected. Brotherhood is broken. But Valentine and the spying old man are face to face, and they connect. He redeems himself. Symbolism fills the house. The sun sets on his past. Rita has had puppies, a symbol of rebirth. His lightbulb breaks, and he replaces it with a new one, and in the light is Valentine.

She finds out he is a retired judge. He asks again, more gently, about her brother and she explains her story. She so badly wants to help, and the judge gives her the best advice: "Be." You cannot live someone's else life, but you can be. If they love you, then it will be enough. She returns his inquiry with one of her own. Has he ever been in love? He changes the subject. One day he accidently freed a guilty sailor. The sailor went on to get married, had three children, and lived a good life. Now his neighbors throw rocks through his window for what he has done to them, and he realizes: to judge is vanity. We all do what we do because of our environment; or perhaps because of fate. Given the lives of every person he judged, he would have done the same thing they did. Valentine has a different interpretation of his story: the judge saved that sailor. She wishes to have him as a judge should she ever get into trouble. "Justice doesn't deal with the innocent," he answers.

Later Valentine talks to her boyfriend, on the telephone of course. "Do you love me?" she asks. "I think so," he answers. Despite their doomed relationship, she is going to visit him in England. She is lonely. First, however, she must do a fashion show. As she walks up and down the runway, she looks for someone she invited: the judge. She does not see him, but after the show she finds out why. He was seated above and behind the runway, as he had once long ago when he was young. He had watched a show then, too, but one of his books dropped down to the floor below. When he went to fetch it, it was opened to a page, and that page ended up having the question that was on the exam he later passed to become a judge. After he explains this, she asks him about his real past. The sailor story before was a ruse so he would not have to tell her about the woman who had betrayed him and broken his heart. "How did you know all this? he asked. "It was not hard to guess." Yes, he had been betrayed by the woman he loved, who left him for another man. He never fell in love again. "Maybe you're the woman I never met," he sighs. Nonetheless, it is not meant to be... or is it? The judge gives her the gift of his insight and his dream. The film ends with a pleasant and wonderful surprise. Despite a horrible storm and a tragedy, you figure out what will happen. Is it coincidence or destiny? You be the judge.