A Dash of Rouge (Three Colors: Red (DVD))

Member Name: Puggers

Product:	Three Colors: Red (DVD)
Date:	23/06/09 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Neat ending to the trilogy, strong performances, interesting ideas.

Disadvantages: Takes far too long to get where it does, weak, jumbed opening half.

At the conclusion of Three Colours Red (and thus of the whole Three Colours trilogy), we are reunited, after what must have been a radical series of coincidences, with the central characters of all three films, all somehow in the same place at the same time. This serendipitous turn of fate is a warm line with which to underscore a trio of stories about the difficulties of human relationships, and is especially appropriate given the particular theme of Red.

Following both the colours of the French flag and the tenets of its motto, Blue focused on Liberty, White looked at Equality and Red completes the tricolore, concerning itself with Fraternity/Brotherhood. Both the final part of the trilogy and the last film director Krzysztof Kieslowski made before his death in 1996, Red is a contemplative, occasionally confusing story about the sometimes surprising relationships we forge.

The film revolves around two central characters with rather disconnected relationships with those around them; Valentine is a part-time model who finds herself communicating with her loved ones via missed calls and answer-phones, while Joseph Kern, a retired judge, spends his isolated days listening to his neighbours' phone conversations with his radio tuned into their frequencies.

The bulk of the film is concerned with the unexpected relationship that develops between them, showing the small differences each makes to the other. The two meet after Valentine hits Kern's dog whilst driving; tracking down the owner, she is surprised by his ambivalence, and is forced to take the animal to the vet herself. Connected initially by the dog, Valentine finds herself returning to the house where Kern lives alone, and although she is repulsed by his underhand surveillance and spying, there exists something which enables the pair to build a tentative friendship.

Alongside this strand of the story, we also follow Auguste, a much younger man than Kern but also a judge, who lives nearby Valentine and whose path often unwittingly overlaps the model's; their routines are a series of near-misses and almost-encounters. We see, in brief vignettes, flashes of his own deteriorating relationship - yet we also see him experiencing a series of events which run in almost direct parallel with those Kern recollects to Valentine, memories of his own life.

At Red's heart, there's an intriguing pair of relationships which weave together and overlap without ever quite touching, and the scenes which relate these are skilfully shot and impeccably acted. Kern in particular is wonderfully played by Jean-Louis Trintignant, quite aware of his own misdeeds, with his regret and shame for the most part stifled below the surface. Valentine too is a complex character; a beautiful, successful woman who occasionally betrays a hint of melancholy, imbued with life and uncertainty by Irene Jacob.

The impact of this film, however, is only really felt in the last half-hour or so. The ending is quite brilliant, and closes out the trilogy in fitting fashion, supplying both a satisfying conclusion and enough questions to keep you discussing Red. The weakness of the movie, however, is that in the hour or so that it takes to get to this point, all you have are a collection of scenes that seem to have scant relevance to each other and lack any real narrative drive.

When the links between the parallel strands of the story become apparent, Red becomes a different film to the confusing, meandering entity it is for the first half or so. To wait an hour or so for a movie to get going, though, is asking an awful lot of the viewer; if you've watched the rest of the trilogy, you'll probably persevere, but if this is a stand-alone film for you (and it can be - the films are only cosmetically linked), you may lose patience.

In a sense, this would be a shame - the scenes showing the growing friendship between Valentine and Kern are highlights of the film, and the way in which the lives of the two judges run parallel to each other is an interesting side-plot. It's hard to know what we're supposed to make of the co-incidences that link them (both, for instance, discard and recover a dog, both become judges thanks to identical turns of fate), but it may be that we should see Auguste as what Kern might have been, had things turned out differently. Indeed, Kern says to Valentine at one point; "You're the woman I could have met" - perhaps the younger man is an embodiment of this alternate timeline. Or perhaps it really is just co-incidence, a demonstration of the many small twists and turns that determine the paths of our relationships.

Three Colours Red could have been the best film of the trilogy; a subtle examination of human bonds, touched with regret, sadness and hope. However, the awkward, fractured way it builds up to its (admittedly excellent) finale means it's probably the weakest. This is still no slight; Kieslowski's trilogy is a fine demonstration of its director's talents - three films that can stand on their own as well as they can merge together, exploring the human need for companionship and the lengths we go to to pursue and defy these needs.

Kieslowski stated that Red would be his final film and was sadly proved right when he passed away little over a year after its release. Even if this isn't the strongest film individually, as the culmination of an excellent trilogy, it's a fine way to sign off.

Summary: A tale of relationships made and broken that takes its time getting going.