Three Colours: Red

1994 Director Krzysztof Kieslowski

This is the concluding film in the Three Colours Trilogy and sadly also Kieslowski's last film. It takes the fraternity part of the French flag as its theme. It also very neatly ties off all the loose ends of the preceding two films.

The film draws heavily on the connectedness of humans via the telephone and the abuse that this lends itself to. Through an accident Valentine is drawn into the life of a retired judge who has taken up telephonic eavesdropping. Her relationship with him leads him to make a startling resolution regarding his obsessions.

This is the triumphant conclusion to the Trilogy and the point of convergence for the three sets of characters in the series. It is the warmest of all three films and this stems from the main theme of the colour red. On a deeper level, it is a film about the invisible connections that intertwine our lives. From the opening scenes until the very end where all the seemingly loose elements converge, the colour red pops up like an eyesore, and this imagery even extends to the characters themselves. If Kieslowski will be remembered for anything, it will be the well-written and well-directed intellectual puzzle called "Red".