Three Colors
This boldly cinematic trio of stories about love and loss, from Krzysztof Kieślowski, was a defining event of the art-house boom of the 1990s. The films are named for the colors of the French flag and stand for the tenets of the French Revolution—liberty, equality, and fraternity—but that hardly begins to explain their enigmatic beauty and rich humanity. Set in Paris, Warsaw, and Geneva, and ranging from tragedy to comedy, Blue, White, and Red (Kieślowski’s final film) examine with artistic clarity a group of ambiguously interconnected people experiencing profound personal disruptions. Marked by intoxicating cinematography and stirring performances by Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy, Irène Jacob, and Jean-Louis Trintignant, Kieślowski’s Three Colors is a benchmark of contemporary cinema. (Criterion)
Three Colors, Part 1
Three Colors: Blue
Julie grieves the tragic death of her husband and daughter. But Blue is more than just a blistering study of grief; it’s also a tale of liberation, as Julie attempts to free herself from the past while confronting truths about the life of her late husband, a composer.
Krzysztof Kieślowski
France, Switzerland, Poland
language: French
subtitles: English
98 min
Three Colors, Part 3
Three Colors: Red
Kieślowski closes his trilogy in grand fashion, with an incandescent meditation on fate and chance, starring Irène Jacob as a sweet-souled yet somber runway model whose life dramatically intersects with that of a bitter retired judge, played by Jean‑Louis Trintignant.
Krzysztof Kieślowski
France, Switzerland, Poland
language: French
subtitles: English
99 min
Three Colors, Part 2
Three Colors: White
White, which chronicles a Polish immigrant’s elaborate revenge plot against his French ex-wife, manages to be both a ticklish dark comedy about the economic inequalities of Eastern and Western Europe and a sublime reverie about twisted love.
Krzysztof Kieślowski
France, Switzerland, Poland
language: French, Polish, English
subtitles: English
91 min
