‘Trois couleurs: Rouge’

‘Trois couleurs: Rouge’, by Krzysztof Kieslowski, is the final installment of the trilogy that also includes blue and white. These three colors of the French flag blue, white and red represent liberty, equality and fraternity respectively; the three French revolutionary ideals. ‘Red’ depicts barriers to fraternity, which is illustrated when the old judge, Joseph Kern, spies on his neighbors by eavesdropping on their telephone calls and also in the scene where Valentine and Kern are separated by a car window when they attempt to hold each other’s hand. The relationship between Kern and Valentine is portrayed as being very intimate, although not romantic. In ‘Red’, Kieslowski brilliantly conveys ideas such as hope, love, fraternity, coincidences and inevitability in secular terms, without any direct connection to modern religions or God.

Kieslowski provides hope in ‘Red’ through the character of Joseph Kern. Kern had been betrayed by his lover and had isolated himself from other human beings. He became cynical and spied on people’s phone calls to strengthen his negative views on human relationships. However, by the conclusion of the movie he had established a strong bond with Valentine. Although, there are several barriers to fraternity in this movie such as communicating through telephones, long distance relationships and the aforementioned window acting as a barrier, Kern’s transformation for seclusion to establishing an intimate friendship with Valentine offers hope for fraternity among humans. The meeting of Auguste, a young judge whose life bears an uncanny resemblance to Kern’s at a younger age, and Valentine at the very end suggests the beginning of a meaningful relationship between them, enabling Valentine to escape her current long distance relationship with a jealous, suspicious boyfriend. Coincidence plays a major role in the movie since Auguste and Valentine never cross each other’s paths although they are neighbors and are shown as being in the same location numerous times, such as the bowling alley and the music store. They also meet each other coincidentally on the ferry when they were among the seven survivors following the tragedy on the English Channel. Kern rues not having such a coincidental encounter with a lady like Valentine at a younger age because that might have discouraged from isolating himself from all personal relationships after the woman he had originally loved passed away. There is also a sense of inevitability about their meeting after missing each other on so many occasions. The old judge also mentions that it was inevitable for his neighbor to commit suicide when his family eventually found out that he had an extra-marital affair with another man.

Fate and destiny could be used interchangeably with coincidence and inevitability, respectively, apart from the religious connotations that the former words entail. Kieslowski remarkably separates the ideas presented in his movie from any connection to religion. I believe this adds to the movie’s brilliance because he poses a very important question through ‘Red’, one that concerns the possibility to live without any religion, in a completely secular manner.

Source: Kieslowski, Krzysztof. ‘Trois couleurs: Rouge’.