The Three Colors trilogy
| Three Colors trilogy | |
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| Directed by | Krzysztof Kieślowski |
| Produced by | Marin Karmitz Yvonne Crenn |
| Written by | Krzysztof Kieślowski Krzysztof Piesiewicz |
| Starring | Juliette Binoche Julie Delpy Irène Jacob |
| Music by | Zbigniew Preisner |
| Cinematography | Edward Kłosiński Piotr Sobociński Slawomir Idziak |
| Editing by | Urszula Lesiak |
| Studio | Canal+ |
| Distributed by | MK2 Distribution |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 288 minutes |
| Country | France Poland Switzerland |
| Language | Blue: French Romanian Polish White: French Polish English Russian Red: French |
| Box office | $6,144,162 (All 3 films) |
The Three Colors trilogy (Polish: Trzy kolory) is the collective title of three films directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski, two made in French and one primarily in Polish: Trois couleurs: Bleu (Three Colors: Blue) (1993), Trzy kolory: Biały (Three Colors: White) (in French: Blanc) (1994), and Trois couleurs: Rouge (Three Colors: Red) (1994). All three were co-written by Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz (with story consultants Agnieszka Holland and Sławomir Idziak) and have musical scores by Zbigniew Preisner.
The films were Kieślowski's first major successes in the West, and are his most acclaimed works after The Decalogue.
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Themes[edit]
Blue, white, and red are the colours of the French flag in left-to-right 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 The Decalogue, 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 [to fund the films] is 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 are also interpreted respectively as an anti-tragedy, an anti-comedy, and an anti-romance.
Films[edit]
Principal cast[edit]
- Juliette Binoche - Julie
- Benoît Régent - Olivier
- Florence Pernel - Sandrine
- Julie Delpy - Dominique
- Zbigniew Zamachowski - Karol
- Janusz Gajos - Mikolaj
- Jerzy Stuhr - Jurek
- Irène Jacob - Valentine
- Jean-Louis Trintignant - Joseph
- Jean-Pierre Lorit - Auguste
- Frederique Feder - Karin
Soundtrack[edit]
Music for all three parts of the trilogy was composed by Zbigniew Preisner and performed by Silesian Philharmonic choir along with Sinfonia Varsovia.
Reception[edit]
Blue got 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes website, based on 38 reviews.[2] The second part of the trilogy, White, was ranked with 91% based on 34 reviews,[3] while its final film, Red, was certified "Fresh" on the same website and got 100% "fresh tomatoes" from the critics.[4]
Roger Ebert included the trilogy in its entirety to his "Great Movies" list.[5]
Ranked #11 in Empire magazines "The 33 Greatest Movie Trilogies" in 2010.[6]
Ranked #14 in Empire magazines "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.[7]
Notes[edit]
- ^ Credits, cast, publications, articles about the film on www.filmreference.com
- ^ Overview and synopsis on www.rottentomatoes.com
- ^ Overview and synopsis on www.rottentomatoes.com
- ^ Overview and synopsis on www.rottentomatoes.com
- ^ "Three Colors Trilogy: Blue, White, Red (1993-1994)". Chicago Sun-Times.
- ^ "The 33 Greatest Movie Trilogies". Empire. Text " 11. Three Colors Trilogy " ignored (help)
- ^ "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema". Empire. Text " 14. The Three Colors Trilogy " ignored (help)
External links[edit]
- Three Colors: Blue at the Internet Movie Database
- Three Colors: White at the Internet Movie Database
- Three Colors: Red at the Internet Movie Database
- Voted #15 on The Arts and Faith Top 100 Films (2010)
- Criterion Collection Essay by Colin MacCabe
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