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Title: The 'Three Colours' Trilogy by Geoff Andrew, Geoff Rew ISBN: 0-85170-569-3 Publisher: British Film Institute Pub. Date: 01 August, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.33 (3 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Three colours: grey
Comment: Even at the time of its release (1993-94), Kieslowski's 'Three Colours' trilogy (in which the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity embodied in the French flag are ironically applied to such dilemmas in modern life as grief, communication in a media-saturated culture and post-communist capitalism) was seen as the last gasp of a 'world cinema' auteur tradition that had flourished in the 1950s and 60s, but had become virtually moribund by the 1980s. At the time, however, reviews were mixed: some critics were in raptures at the rare, spiritual power of these films, treasuring their exploration of inner lives, and holding them as a Fine Art stick with which to beat the commercial inanities of modern Hollywood; others decried Kieslowski's rejection of a political cinema, his retreat into a self-indulgent, decorative, bourgeois-currying aesthetic of the individual.
Geoff Andrew was, from the start, one of Kieslowski's most ardent acolytes, but his study of the trilogy is wholly inadequate as an analysis of Kieslowski's complex art. Film editor for listings rag Time Out, Andrew doesn't progress beyond the insights offered in original newspaper/magazine reviews, and his prose is littered with the kind of quotable hyperbole designed for snipping from articles and pasting on blurbs and posters: 'an extraordinarily affecting triptych', 'deft black comedy', 'Kieslowski's greatest achievement'. The whole point of this BFI Classics/Modern Classics series was surely to go beyond the platitudes of contemporary opinion, and put the works in some kind of context or framework.
Andrew's study is the kind of bland, untheoretical fanzine that used to pass for film criticism in the 60s - the films are treated as simply the poetic inspirations of a great auteur. There is no attempt, for instance, to see how issues such as finance might affect certain aesthetic decisions (casting, location etc.), or what the contributions of other personnel might be. Kieslowski's intellectual and cultural heritage as a Pole, a reader and a film-maker is ignored as if he was a singular genius who emanated from the ether, untouched by environment, circumstance or influence.
After a brief sketch of Kieslowski's pre-'Three Colours' career (which is extraordinarily reduced to the level of films anticipating the trilogy, rather than major works in their own right), the 'analyses' of the 3 movies are actually mere synopses, while the 'critical' chapters, charting thematic and formal connections, and links with Kieslowski's previous features, never gets beyond mere listing, never coheres into anything resembling an interpretation. The density of these playful, ambiguous, deeply ironic films is reduced to the trite, touchy-feely Disneyesque message 'Love conquers all'. Worse, the films themselves are discussed as if they were mere screenplays, in terms of plot and character, as if they were books; anyone who has seen a Kieslowski picture will know that these are the least interesting elements (or, at least, that they are undermined by various formal and narrative procedures), and to properly interpet Kieslowski, a detailed, informed account of his style is needed. On the DVDs of the films there are interviews with his editor Jacques Witta, and masterclasses from Kieslowski. These interviews show how profoundly meaning derived not from plot or character, but from complex decisions about editing, timing, rhythm, colour, texture, framing, sound etc., about how material that was shot but didn't work in the editing suite could be abandoned or rearranged. Anyone who wants to gain a greater understanding of these elusive films would do better to skip this book and get the DVDs instead.
Rating: 2
Summary: amidst a slew of details, nothing really new
Comment: First, beware the cybershopper: this is an *extremely* slim volume. The contents make up a scant 80 pages. Thick, glossy paper quality, which showcases film stills extremely well, and a six-page interview with Kieslowski at the end, but the writing is less than satisfying. Andrew tends to run to extremes - most of the time his "analysis" consists of painstakingly assembled narrative details from the three films (expounded at length over individual synopses of the three films), and when he does take a shot at analysis, he tends to draw grand and general conclusions for which the evidence is found wanting. The author prefers to rhapsodize about the role of chance and destiny in the Trilogy, when an introductory discussion regarding the precise meaning of the *title* and how it is expressed in the film might have seemed more proper. In a sense he can't be blamed for this, since this is his own take on the trilogy and he is free to think whatever he thinks - in fact, he apologizes early on that this tome represents a non-definitive (meaning personal) take on the trilogy from the viewpoint of an "unrepentant admirer". However, in this sense each and every passionate viewer of Kieslowski could have written his or her own book, with no more and no less merit for publication than Andrew's. In sum, if you are already initiated into Kieslowski, there is nothing in this book that a good second (or third or fourth) viewing of the films will not give you (but to be on par with this author be prepared to hit the"pause" button every five minutes - gotta spot that portrait of Van Den Budenmayer's on the judge's desk!), and if you are a novice, this is not the book to start with. Watch the films again, carefully, and let your mind draw its own conclusions.
Rating: 4
Summary: A great complement for any Three Colours enthusiast.
Comment: If anyone has reservations about delving into the "What does it mean...?", this book is a great safety net, or better yet, a guide. There are very thoughtful analyses of the movies on an individual basis as well as a single trilgoy.
The bio on Kieslowski is very brief, and there are few mentions about the actors and actresses themselves. But a small trifle...
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Title: Double Lives, Second Chances : The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski by Annette Insdorf ISBN: 0786884746 Publisher: Miramax Pub. Date: 15 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Kieslowski on Kieslowski by Danusia Stok, Krzystof Kieslowski ISBN: 0571173284 Publisher: Faber & Faber Pub. Date: 01 May, 1995 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: Belle De Jour by Michael Wood ISBN: 0851708234 Publisher: British Film Institute Pub. Date: 01 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Three Colors Trilogy: Blue, White, Red by Krzystof Kieslowski, Krzystof Piesiewicz, Danusia Stok ISBN: 0571178928 Publisher: Faber & Faber Pub. Date: 01 March, 1998 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title:Three Colors Trilogy (Blue / White / Red) ASIN: B000083C5F Publisher: Buena Vista Home Vid Pub. Date: 04 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.99 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $32.79 |
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