Three Colors Trilogy

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 were named for the colors of the French flag and stand for the tenets of the French Revolution—liberty, equality, and fraternity—but this 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 such actors as Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy, Irène Jacob, and Jean-Louis Trintignant, Kieślowski’s Three Colors is a benchmark of contemporary cinema.
- New high-definition digital restorations (with DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray editions)
- Three cinema lessons with director Krzysztof Kieślowski
- New interviews with composer Zbigniew Preisner; writer Krzysztof Piesiewicz; and actors Julie Delpy, Zbigniew Zamachowski, and Irène Jacob
- Selected-scene commentary for
Blue with actress Juliette Binoche
- Three new video essays, by film writers Annette Insdorf, Tony Rayns, and Dennis Lim
- Kieślowski’s student short
The Tram (1966) and his fellow student’s short from the same year
The Face, which features Kieślowski in a solo performance
- Two short documentaries by Kieślowski:
Seven Women of Different Ages (1978) and
Talking Heads (1980)
-
Krzysztof Kieślowski: I’m So-So . . . (1995), a feature-length documentary in which the filmmaker discusses his life and work
- Two multi-interview programs,
Reflections on “Blue” and
Kieślowski: The Early Years, with film critic Geoff Andrew, Binoche, filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, cinematographer Sławomir Idziak, Insdorf, Jacob, and editor Jacques Witta
- Interviews with producer Marin Karmitz and Witta
- Behind-the-scenes programs for
White and
Red, and
Kieślowski Cannes 1994, a short documentary on
Red’s world premiere
- Original theatrical trailers
- New and improved English subtitle translations
- PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critics Colin MacCabe, Nick James, Stuart Klawans, and Georgina Evans, an excerpt from
Kieślowski on Kieślowski, and reprinted interviews with cinematographers Sławomir Idziak, Edward Klosinski, and Piotr Sobocinski
DVD Box Set:
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Criterionforum.org user rating averagesBlue
In the devastating first film of the Three Colors trilogy, Juliette Binoche gives a tour de force performance as Julie, a woman reeling from the tragic deaths of her husband and young daughter. But
Blue is more than just a blistering study of grief; it’s also a tale of liberation, as Julie learns truths about her late composer husband’s life and attempts to free herself of the past. Shot in icily gorgeous tones by Sławomir Idziak and set to an extraordinary operatic score by Zbigniew Preisner,
Blue is an overwhelming sensory experience.
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Cinema lesson with Krzysztof Kieślowski
- New video essay by film studies professor Annette Insdorf
- New interview with composer Zbigniew Preisner
- Select-scene commentary by actor Juliette Binoche
- “Reflections on Blue,” an interview program with film critic Geoff Andrew, Binoche, screenplay consultant and filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, cinematographer Sławomir Idziak, Insdorf, and editor Jacques Witta
- New and improved English subtitle translation
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The most playful but also the grittiest of Kieślowski’s Three Colors films follows the adventures of Karol Karol (Zbigniew Zamachowski), a Polish immigrant living in France. The hapless hairdresser opts to leave Paris for his native Warsaw after his wife (Julie Delpy) sues him for divorce (her reason: he was never able to perform in bed) and then frames him for arson after setting her own salon ablaze.
White, which goes on to chronicle Karol Karol’s elaborate revenge plot, manages to be both a ticklish dark comedy about the economic inequalities of Eastern and Western Europe and a sublime reverie about twisted love.
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Cinema lesson with Krzysztof Kieślowski
- New video essay by film writer Tony Rayns
- Two new interview programs, one with co-writer Krzysztof Piesiewicz and one with lead actors Zbigniew Zamachowski and Julie Delpy
- Short documentary on the making of White
- New and improved English subtitle translation
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Krzysztof Kieślowski closes his Three Colors trilogy in grand fashion with an incandescent meditation on fate and chance, starring Irène Jacob as a sweet-souled yet somber runway model in Geneva whose life intersects with that of a bitter retired judge, played by Jean‑Louis Trintignant. Their blossoming friendship forces each to open up in surprising emotional ways. Meanwhile, just down the street, a seemingly unrelated story of jealousy and betrayal unfolds.
Red is an intimate look at forged connections and a splendid final statement from a remarkable filmmaker at the height of his powers.
- Cinema lesson with Krzysztof Kieślowski
- New video essay by film writer Dennis Lim
- New interview with actor Irène Jacob, plus interviews with producer Marin Karmitz and editor Jacques Witta
- “Red at Cannes, 1994”, a short documentary on the film’s world premiere
- New and improved English subtitle translation
DVD:
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Criterionforum.org user rating averages