Three Colors: White (1994)

After his wife divorces him, a Polish immigrant plots to get even with her.

Director:

Krzysztof Kieslowski

Writers:

Krzysztof Kieslowski (scenario), Krzysztof Piesiewicz (scenario)

Stars:

Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy, Janusz Gajos

2 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Zbigniew Zamachowski	...	Karol Karol
Julie Delpy	...	Dominique
Janusz Gajos	...	Mikolaj
Jerzy Stuhr	...	Jurek
Aleksander Bardini	...	Le notaire
Grzegorz Warchol	...	L'elégant
Cezary Harasimowicz	...	L'inspecteur
Jerzy Nowak	...	La vieux payson
Jerzy Trela	...	Monsieur Bronek
Cezary Pazura	...	Le propriétaire du bureau de change
Michel Lisowski	...	L'interprète
Philippe Morier-Genoud	...	Le juge (The Judge) (as Philippe Morier Genoud)
Piotr Machalica	...	L'homme de haute taille
Francis Coffinet	...	L'employé de banque
Barbara Dziekan	...	La caissière

Storyline

Karol (Polish) marries Dominique (French) and moves to Paris. The marriage breaks down and Dominique divorces Karol, forcing him into the life of a metro beggar and eventually back to Poland. However, he never forgets Dominique and while building a new life for himself in Warsaw he begins to plot.

---

Plot Keywords:

marriage | obsession | divorce | wealth | humiliation | 

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some sexuality and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #589.

---

Goofs

When our couple manage to make love, Dominique's moanings are not simultaneous with her lips.

---

Quotes

Mikolaj: What counts on bridge is memory.
[sighing]
Mikolaj: And mine is excellent.

---

Connections

Referenced in According to Spencer (2001)

---

Soundtracks

To ostatnia niedziela
Composed by Jerzy Petersburski and Z. Friedwald

User Reviews

Three Colors: Desire

Among user comments for this film, one claims the film is really about marriage, another assigns "stubborn spitefulness" to Delpy (she just wants her man to be able to get it on), or how it's about French society. Others seem to have taken Kieslowski at face value when he said that each film in the trilogy is inspired by the French republican motto and try to explain how this is the "egalite" film. Kieslowski may have coaxed funds from the French by giving them something they could buy into in a cultural way (he's pretty much said so) but we have no reason to rest there.

What makes this interesting is that the story such as you see it never really happened. Kieslowski makes a point to show us a man being flown to Poland in a suitcase, a hairdresser who is turned into a business mogul just like that, or why Delpy is locked up in prison with no evidence.

Blue was about memory, something that happened in the past and now resurfaces to color reality. This one is about imagined anticipation: desire. We have a marriage breaking apart, the courtroom bit is your anchor and probably the only safely real one. She used to love him until he couldn't get hard any more, but even this might be his own failure to save his marriage (a blow to male ego) taking shape as male impotence to consummate.

The rest of the film is wish-fulfillment fantasy where he pities himself as broke and homeless, endures all kinds of hardship until he picks himself up and becomes rich and powerful (that's virility for his male ego). He then watches her cry over his grave and stages his comeuppance after a night of giving her the best sex of her life of course.

This has all been the narrator's vindictive fantasy of a slighted ego. But love melts away this fantasy. He never leaves for Hong Kong as planned. He chooses to visit her in prison instead. Watching her through theater glasses from below, she motions to him about getting married again. It's all about a narrator living through the illusory reality that desire creates.

Compared to the other two in the trilogy, it comes out on the slight side, looking a bit like an episode from the Dekalog.

Details

Country:

Switzerland France Poland

Language:

Polish French English

Release Date:

10 June 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Three Colors: White

Filming Locations:

Poland

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$22,284, 12 June 1994

Gross USA:

$1,237,219

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,237,219

Company Credits

Production Co:

MK2 Productions, France 3 Cinéma, CAB Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1