Romancefest 2021: Three Colours: White

Directed by Krysztof Kieslowski

Written by Krysztof Kieslowski and Krysztof Piesiewicz

Starring Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy, Janusz Gajos and Jerzy Stuhr

France, Poland, Switzerland 1994

There -- I've finally seen all 3 of the THREE COLOURS movies: BLUE when I was a teenager, RED in a previous Romancefest and now WHITE.

You can take a look at my DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE entry for some musings about Kieslowski as a filmmaker -- they all apply here. Although, WHITE stands out to me as a little more rough around the edges than the typical Kieslowski film. This might be why people consider it the least of the trilogy (although they still say it's great). To me this is actually a strength, instead of a weakness.

I'm not being a contrarian just to be a contrarian but I have to admit I may have liked WHITE best of the trilogy. It's at least as good as RED, and I definitely liked it more than BLUE. Though, I suppose I owe BLUE another watch, really, since I probably didn't have a brain capable of understanding it when I was in high school.

WHITE tells the darkly comedic tale of a freshly divorced Polish immigrant in France who systematically loses everything to the point that he's homeless, and arranges to have himself shipped back to Poland in a suitcase. Once there, he begins to rebuild his life, starting at the bottom rung of an organized crime ring, and climbing ever higher until he has his own successful (probably illegal?) business. It becomes clear his intention is either to win back the woman who divorced him, get revenge on her, or both.

This is the most male-centric Kieslowski film I've seen, focusing on the plight of a male character rather than a beautiful and exotic woman. Zamachowski has a great character actor's face and displays a lot of range going from a bumbling clown in some scenes to a crime boss in others. I'd put him up there with a guy like Paul Giamatti. Of course the object of his affection is Julie Delpy, who doesn't have much to do except look beautiful for most of the movie, though she eventually comes to play in the end.

The trilogy probably really deserves to be watched together, instead of over several decades, and I admit I'm late to the party on these, so maybe I'll check them out again some time. I can see why they're so well regarded by film lovers, and I like them well enough -- they just don't blow my mind.

Ugh, I feel like Diane Keaton in MANHATTAN when she says Vincent Van Gogh and Ingmar Bergman are overrated.