Three Colours - Red (1996)

Couldn't go past 15 minutes.Poor quality and antiquated quality.I love French cinema,but this had nothing.

Totally engrossing in a slow moving, dreamlike sort of way.

Probably the best out of the 3 movies in this grouping.....but not by much...am afraid I wouldn't recommend these movies to anyone unless they were learning French!!!

A young model, Valentine, accidentally hits a dog while she is out driving her car one night. She traces the owner to an embittered old judge living alone, who tells her she can have it if she wants it. Upset that he should be so callous, she takes it to a vet, who stitches it up and it recovers. A few days later the dog decides to return to its old home, and when Valentine calls on the judge she finds him listening to a neighbour's telephone conversation. It is a husband talking secretly to his girlfriend which he is recording. Taking the high moral ground she goes strutting over to the neighbour, but when she meets the carefree wife and the happy young daughter, she can't bring herself to expose the husband. The judge is not surprised and starts talking about some of the difficult decisions that he has had to make in his own life and as a judge. Told in parallel is the story of a law student, very like the judge when younger, whose girlfriend, a pretty weather-forecaster, acts foolishly and destroys the relationship, as if the connection between each other has been suddenly broken. Valentina and her boyfriend in England are constantly talking to each other on the telephone, yet they appear less connected than she is to the judge. Despite her greater understanding of the judge and his motives, she is greatly surprised when he tells her what he intends to do about his snooping. A wonderful movie with mesmerizing performances from Irene Jacob and Jean-Louis Trintignant.

Another beautiful movie and one that I recommend for those who enjoyed others in the Three Colours trilogy

RED - symbol of warning, tragedy, war - magnificent goes nowhere to describing my feelings for this film: it has such an enormous range of emotion and pathos of the human condition. This finale to the Three Colours trilogy builds on the strengths of BLUE & WHITE and concludes the trilogy in absolute splendour. The simplicity of this series of 3 films shows the strength of the concept, construction and scripting of the films: simplicity is one of the most difficult things to express so simply - I can't rave enough about these films, the emotional levels achieved, the meanings, the messages, all personal of course, such effective and affective film making.........BLUE - symbol of depression 'I feel the blues'....... WHITE - the symbol of purity and love, innocence: & this is the scratch on the surface..........

In the French flag, red is Fraternity (friendship and mutual support between people) and is also the colour of love. Director Kryzsztof Kieslowski uses numerous examples of rich warm shades of red around his two stars: Valentine (Irene Jacob), a beautiful fashion model but somewhat sad, bewildered and unexciting, and Joseph (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a cynical embittered retired judge. Their unlikely and ultimately strong platonic friendship bordering on love gradually develops through a series of encounters resulting in a shared spiritual transformation. This is a joy to watch unfold in this multi-layered cinematic triumph which concludes with chance yet again playing a major role, this time linking the trilogy’s main characters.

Best of the three.

It is essential to watch the three parts of this trilogy in order. Taken together, Blue, White and Red are a masterful achievement. A great deal is going on in these films and they warrant multiple viewings. The final film, Red is possibly the best of them and ties up the loose end in all three films in a dramatic conclusion. Irene Jacob is mesmerising in an understated way and painstakingly, Trintignant provides the perfect foil. Although the slow pace may be frustrating to some, flashes of humour and striking human insights illuminate the experience. Tremendous stuff.

Trintignant is doubtless a faulous actor - but am I really the only one who found this film somewhat excruciating to sit through?

My favourite of the three.

A wonderful smart movie from the great director. A must see classics.