Average Rating: 
Rating: - One of the greatest cinematic experiences of the 1990s
The Three Colors Trilogy comprises 3 superb films (Bleu/Blanc/Rouge) by the late, great director Krzysztof Kieslowski. The films use the symbolism expressed by the colors of the French flag for their themes (liberty, equality, fraternity). The Three Colors is Kieslowski's crowning achievement, and Rouge, his final film, is probably his masterpiece. That's saying something, because some of his previous films (Decalogue, The Double Life of Veronique) are among the greatest films of the last 20 years! I saw Bleu (with Juliette Binoche) a long time ago and was very impressed. It's a sad but beautful movie, about a composer's widow and how she copes with life after his death. Blanc (with Julie Delpy) is about life for a man after he is unceremoniously dumped by his wife; it's the lightest and most comedic of the three films. Rouge (with Irene Jacob) is my favorite and explores the melancholy (and platonic) relationship that develops between a young lady and an older man. Jacob is quite simply a goddess, and if you can tear your eyes away from her long enough to pay attention to the movie, you'll find this is a thematically rich film with solid, subtle performances (Kieslowski was nominated for a Best Director Oscar for Rouge in 1995). I am lucky enough to own a DVD of Rouge which has a ton of extras (making of, deleted scenes, soundtrack samples, trailers, film-making lesson by the director, Cannes festival interviews, extended interviews with editor, director, and *sigh* Irene Jacob). I believe the upcoming Miramax DVDs retain these features (with subtitles), which are in French. More Americans should experience these films. They are so well-made and lovingly crafted that they put to shame all the multi-million dollar, shallow, explosion-fests routinely shovelled out by Hollywood nowadays. Next to Stanley Kubrick and Akira Kurosawa, Krzysztof Kieslowski's death in the 1990s is one of the most tragic for cinema. Younger filmmakers should hope one day to approach even an iota of the MANY brilliant masterpieces created of these film masters. Watch The Three Colors Trilogy! This is film-making at its finest and totally a 5 STAR recommendation!
Rating: - The Trilogy DVD set from Miramax
The late great Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski cleverly "adapted" the three French ideals -- liberty, equality, fraternity -- into three thought-provoking modern-day dramas about people who cope with personal losses and tragedies. In BLUE, the first of the trilogy, a widow tries to set herself free (and gain liberty) from her emotional baggages. The second film, WHITE, is about a jilted man's outrageous plot to get even (thus, equality) with his ex-wife. The last film, RED, which is also Kieslowski's final film before he died in 1996, is about a lonely old man who is embittered by the memories of his youth and finds accidental companionship (fraternity) with a young model. All three films are understated in their tone, economical in their dialogs, elliptical in their editing and plotting (there are some mind-boggling flashbacks and flash forwards in WHITE), and haunting in their atmosphere. The references to the three French ideals are actually quite tenuous, and in fact more and more so as the trilogy progresses. BLUE is the only one that deals with the ideal of "freedom" (albeit emotional freedom) in a concrete way, inviting us to ponder its meanings and its attainability. WHITE treats the concept of "equality" in a rather subversive and satiric way, and it clearly wants us to rethink its meanings rather than accepting it at face value. And RED has to do with "fraternity" only circumstantially, and has more to do with the issue of destiny, and how our past is linked to our present. The three films are set not just in France, but also in Poland and Switzerland, and WHITE has primarily Polish dialogs. Hence, a sort of universality is intended. The three films are also linked in various ways. All three films involve an unfaithful lover who dies, in one way or another. All three films involve a chance encounter between the distressed protagonist and a sympathetic observer -- the widow and the mistress in BLUE, Karol and Mikolaj in WHITE, the retired judge and the model in RED. Both BLUE and WHITE are about people who move to new surroundings to escape from his or her troubled pasts. And RED, ironically, is about someone who never leaves his home in order to wallow in his self-pity. Kieslowski had done this sort of thing before. In 1988, he "adapted" the Ten Commandments into ten one-hour, modern-day dramas, collectively titled DECALOGUE, that make us rethink the meanings of the commandments. In the segment for "Thou Shalt Not Steal," for instance, we witness the kidnapping (the theft) of a child from her adopted parents by her natural mother, who thinks she has a right to her custody. Thus, it turns clear-cut moral ideals into real-world dramas that have no clear-cut solutions or judgments. Miramax released long-awaited Region-1 DVDs for the Three Colors trilogy, and they all have superb video transfers and rewarding extra material. Kieslowski expert Annette Insdorf provides excellent running commentaries for all three films. She analyzes the visual, aural, and editorial techniques, the thematic significance, as well as how the final films deviate from their original screenplays. She points out that Kieslowski films often deal with abstract concepts, such as fate, death, and grief, in very concrete ways. She makes an observant remark about the apparent twist of fate in the opening of BLUE: if the hitchhiker were picked up by the family, the ensuing tragedy might not occur. She points out that the dream-like wedding scene in WHITE, which many assume is a flashback, could also be a flash forward (a very interesting, and plausible, notion). She offers her interpretations to the many symbolisms in the films, such as the frequent fades to black in BLUE, the recurring shot of a stooped old person at a garbage bin, the significance of the concerto music in BLUE, the tango theme in WHITE, and the bolero score in RED. She also explains the intentionally cryptic endings of WHITE and RED. Each disc comes with several featurettes that comprise about 100 minutes of interviews and commentaries by the cast and crew, Insdorf, film critic Geoff Andrew, and film director Agnieszka Holland. The BLUE and WHITE discs also contain some early short films by Kieslowski: CONCERT OF WISHES, THE TROLLEY, THE FACE, THE OFFICE. All three discs contain a fascinating segment called "Kieslowski's Cinema Lesson," in which the director explains his intentions in one particular scene. The WHITE and RED discs contain behind-the-scenes footage of Kieslowski giving directions on the set. For Kieslowski fans, perhaps the most poignant clip in these supplements is that of Kieslowski announcing his retirement at the '94 Cannes festival, included on the RED disc.
Rating: - Three of the greatest films ever made finally on US DVD
It is absolutely shocking that it has taken so long for this trilogy of masterpieces to reach DVD. These are, without a doubt, my favorite films of the 1990s. The late Kieslowski was working at the top of his game and his presence in filmmaking is sorely missed. Blue and Red are my favorites out of the three, with Juliette Binoche illuminating every scene. Red (which is set in Geneva and not Paris as the amazon review incorrectly states)is a brilliant way to wrap the trilogy. Irene Jacob sparring with the great Jean Louis Tritignant in their lovely and heartbreaking scenes. There are so many wonderful moments, including the final moment when Jacob's face on the giant billboard becomes a haunting coda that will reduce you to tears...simply because it is shear genius on Kieslowski's part. Like his contemporary Wim Wenders, Kieslowski marched to the beat of his own drum and gave the world beautiful, if not always easy, films to cherish.
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