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List Price: $39.99 | | Label: Miramax
Salesrank: 11856
Released: March 4, 2003 |
| Our Price: $32.75 |
| Used Price: $32.74 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Miramax Home Entertainment is proud to present BLUE, WHITE and RED, the acclaimed films by director Krzysztof Kieslowski. Hailed by filmgoers as some of the most absorbing, engaging, well-crafted dramas in recent memory, the box set of BLUE, WHITE and RED Each DVD disc includes lengthy bonus features.
BLUE: Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche ("The English Patient," Best Supporting Actress, 1996) stars as a young woman left devastated by the unexpected death of her husband and child. She retreats into the world around her, but is soon reluctantly drawn into an ever-widening web of lies and passion as the dark, secret life of her husband begins to unravel.
WHITE: Sexy Julie Delpy ("Before Sunrise") stars in a mysterious tale of a man whose life disintegrates when his beautiful wife of six months deserts him. Forced to begin anew, he rebuilds his life, only to plan a dangerous scheme of vengeance against her. Winner of the Best Director Award at the Berlin Film Festival.
RED: Irene Jacob ("The Double Life of Veronique") stars as a young model whose chance meeting with an unusual stranger leads her down a path of intrigue and secrecy. As her knowledge of the man deepens, she discovers an astonishing link between his past and her destiny.
Description of Three Colors Trilogy (Blue / White / Red):
Even though one can view each segment of Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors trilogy on its own, it seems absurd to do so; why buy the slacks instead of the entire suit? Created by Kieslowski and his writing partner Krzysztof Piesiewicz for France's bicentennial, the titles--and the themes of the films--come from the three colors of the French flag representing liberty, equality, and fraternity. Blue examines liberation through the eyes of a woman (Juliette Binoche) who loses her husband and daughter in an auto accident, and solemnly starts anew. White is an ironic comedy about a befuddled Polish husband (Zbigniew Zamachowski) who takes an odd path of revenge against his ex-wife (Julie Delpy). A Swiss model (Irène Jacob) strikes up a friendship with a retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who eavesdrops on his neighbors in Red. The trilogy is a snapshot of European life at a time of reconstruction after the Cold War, reflected through Kieslowski's moralist view of human nature and illumined by each title's palate color.
The DVD set has numerous extras spread throughout the three discs; the end result is a superior collection. Each disc has a short retrospective, culled together from new interviews with Kieslowski's crew, plus film critic Geoff Andrew, biographer Annette Insdorf (who also does the commentaries), and fellow Polish director Ageniska Holland. Producer Marin Karmitz also reminisces about the experience. There's an exceptional effort to show the magic of Kieslowski (who died two years after the trilogy) through a discussion of his various career phases, interviews with the three lead actresses, four student films, and archival materials including simple--and wonderful--glimpses of the director at work. Excellent insight is also provided by Dominique Rabourdin's filmed "cinema lessons" with Kieslowski. Without viewing any of his other films, this set illustrates the uniqueness of Kieslowski. --Doug Thomas
Three Colors Trilogy (Blue / White / Red) Reviews:
Three Colours, Three Great Films, One Amazing Filmmaker 
2009-07-23 - I saw these films when they first came out and loved each one a little bit more than the one which came before it. Blue was a sad film about a woman struggling with new found independence after losing her husband and child in an accident. It was sad and mysterious. White is a black comedy about a dueling couple with an uneven power match. The woman is beautiful and French, the man is not as attractive and Polish. A duel of wits and power plays define their relationship. Red is a story of lonely people struggling to connect with others. It turns a warm, friendly face to the world and is the most heartwarming story of them all.
Three Masterworks
2009-03-31 - Among the pleasures of watching a Krzysztof Kieslowski film is that you really have to pay attention to what's going on at the present in order to really understand what happens later. And I'm not talking about the major incidents, I'm saying that what often seems insignificant at the time proves to be the portentous key on which the story turns. Kieslowski honed that technique with his masterful Decalogue, and he works it to full efflorescence in the Three Colors Trilogy.
I am not going to rehash the stories as so many others have done so well. But I will say that these are three of the finest moral dramas I've seen in years. Kieslowski forces the viewer to consider many angles on a question he/she may have never considered. His films are almost like short courses in logic and philosophy, but much more interesting.
I like all three films very much, but I think that White is the cleverest and is the most humorous as well. Blue and Red are far more serious and demand the most intellectual engagement. It doesn't hurt one's attention span that the female leads are all attractive and sexy in their own very different ways.
Some viewers used to fast-paced American films may find these three masterworks too low-key and methodical for their tastes. And methodical they may be although they never fail to surprise. But if you are one who prefers films that are intellectually stimulating and ultimately satisfying, then the Three Colors Trilogy may be for you. Be sure to watch them in the order of Blue, White, then Red. Pay close attention to all three and your time will be rewarded.
Three colors trilogy - Blue / White / Red
2009-02-07 - These three movies are not really linked together but there are scenes overlapping while the stories are different. Julliette Binoche is fresh and interesting as always. The stories are interesting whith unexpected things happening. Also there are some interesting effects in it. All in all a nice trilogy that I have given a very good score.
Engaging, Absorbing, Mesmerizing...and often dreamlike
2008-07-19 - Blue, White, Red were named after the colors of the French flag with the movie themes of liberty, equality and fraternity. The three films are largely unconnected in their story lines but have similar construction:
* Terrific casting
* Each move has a lead or co-lead who is a beauty
* Slow moving
* Characters are deeply introspective and emotional
* Generally few words by and among the major players however facial expressions and the "unsaid" pull you along and visually tell the story
* Colors and cinematography project a dream-like state
* The movie title colors (Blue/White/Red) are beautifully emphasized and subtly set in the each film (blue sky, blue water, blue chandelier).
In Blue, the director's subject is "liberty" which is intended to represent emotional "liberty." The film is set in Paris. Julie's husband (a famous composer) and child are killed in a car accident. In her grief, she tries to distance herself from her former life by cutting all her ties (sells her house and her belongings, gives away much of her money, moves and tells no one) - - but she finds that leaving it all behind is not so simple. In her grief, she is also stunned to learn secrets about her family which further adds to her grief. She eventually turns back to music as her solace and turns to an old friend for companionship and love - and both begin to pull her out of the darkness.
In White, the director's subject is "equality." Karol moves his wife from Poland to Paris where she proceeds to divorce him, humiliate him and abandon him because of his inability to consummate their marriage. He is thrown out on the streets of Paris penniless. Karol schemes to move back to Poland where he becomes a successful businessman and plots his revenge. And revenge he gets at a significant personal cost.
In Red, the director's subject is "fraternity" where he shows unrelated characters with little in common coming together to develop a close relationship. The movie is set in Geneva where a professional model (Valentine) meets a retired judge in a chance meeting after she runs over his dog. Valentine learns that the retired judge is listening in on his neighbors' phone conversations and she despises him for it. She happens to visit him on several other occasions after she returns with the dog from the vet. He begins to see and appreciate the "goodness" in her - so he turns himself in to authorities for the illegal surveillance and begins to open up to her. They eventually form a very close relationship as she learns his life history. And, other characters loosely connect to the storyline. This film was the most difficult of the three to follow as other characters loosely connect to the storyline - but this film like the other two was equally engaging and moving.
3 masterpieces for a great low price...
2008-06-04 - This is a tremendous bargain. All three of these films are terrific on their own, but they are much easier to appreciate all together. It may be worth mentioning that the stories are largely unconnected (although they do intersect at certain times). This isn't really a narrative trilogy (like Star Wars), but a thematic one. Each film is named after a color of the French flag, and is supposed to represent the same ideal (Blue=Liberty, White=Equality, Red=Fraternity). But these concepts take on slightly twisted forms in the films; for example, Blue begins with a woman being "liberated" from an unhappy marriage by means of a car accident which kills her husband and child. Liberty is great, but it can also be violent and emotionally painful. The Three Colors films challenge us to see these kinds of complications in what we otherwise may take for granted.
In case the above paragraph didn't make this clear, these films are not easy viewing. They are slow, they are not in English, and they most likely will demand multiple viewings to fully appreciate. This DVD set makes this challenge a little easier; the special features are extensive, and added greatly to my appreciation of the trilogy. For a mere $30, this is one of the best DVD bargains I've ever found.
