Episode 97: Three Colors: Red (1994)

From Joshua Klein, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: "The third color of the French flag stands for fraternity, and although the last film of Krzysztof Kieslowski's 'Three Colors' trilogy again remains only loosely connected to that theme, he somehow gets to the heart of brotherhood via the sometimes tenuous and often-impossible-to-comprehend ties that connect all of humanity.  If each of the 'Three Colors" films ends up much more than the sum of their ambiguous parts, then Red provides the grand and illuminating summation of all three entities.  Like the closing chapter of a great philosophical novel, Red parcels out its details patiently and elliptically, drawing power from the mysterious plot machinations that connect a good-natured model (the ineffable Irene Jacob) with a cynical, retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant).  Both lead empty lives yet express their loneliness in completely different ways, but the judge sees something intriguing in the model that draws him out of his shell of self-hatred. "Like many of Kieslowski's works, Red runs deep with chance and coincidence, and although the metaphysical director rarely addresses spirituality in his work per se, his final film (Kieslowski retired after directing Red and died shortly later) often seems a meditation on not just earthly bonds but also our place in the universe.  In lesser hands such subject matter would no doubt have gotten bogged down in New Age musings, but Kieslowski is smarter than that.  His characters develop and interact organically, as if tapping into a script made entirely of emotional cues rather than mere words.  His camera captures places and moments that appear insignificant yet whose importance is inevitably born out.  In Red he even manages to almost magically make manifest the very fabric of our existence, as the metaphors and symbolic touches of all three films - Blue (1993), White (1994), and Red - blur together during the challenging and undeniably moving conclusion, which casts the entire trilogy in a new light.  Rarely has a film so brilliantly fused together so many ideas, images, and emotions into one masterful whole, a life primer and work of art posing as a mere movie." Have a comment or question for the host?  Email Sean at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter via @1001MoviesPC.