Review of The Double Life of Véronique (1991) by Daniel K — 07 Mar 2011

4: I love Kieslowski. The fact that he dies so young, relatively, is one of the great tragedies of contemporary cinema. In 10 films and possibly the greatest television series ever created, Decalogue, I'm not sure I've seen anything deserving of less than 4 stars.

The Scar and No End are the only possibilities, as I haven't seen them in a couple years and didn't rate them at the time. No one gets the details right like he does. He invariably focuses in on seemingly innocuous and insignificant images, often in extreme close-up, over the course of the film and they invariably somehow serve to emphasize the main theme or themes and heighten the emotional response of the viewer.

His pacing and editing is basically without equal. His use of music is rivaled by few: Satoshi Kon and Wong Kar-Wai being among them. His scores are usually painfully poignant, as is the case here. Few are this operatic and grandly overpowering: Edith Piaf has nothing on Preisner (I watched La Vie En Rose right after this).

I can't wait to see the rest of his work on Blu-Ray. The difference here is incredible; Kieslowski is often concerned with beauty, so it makes perfect sense to see and hear his films in their full glory.

Irene Jacob is brilliant as well. Few films end as abruptly as this one as well; most directors keep skipping over effective endings as they drag the film out and bring it to a tidy resolution. Kieslowski doesn't use a frame more than is necessary, except in the American version for which Harvey Weinstein convinced him to add 4 scenes adding up to 10 or more additional seconds or screen time.

It is a subtle and simple film, yet it is enigmatic, mysterious, and metaphysically complex. These two women share and unseen and unexplained connection, as all humans do, although usually it is far less apparent and poetic.