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.

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Plot Keywords:

marriage | obsession | divorce | wealth | humiliation | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some sexuality and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Krzysztof Kieslowski was a very precise filmmaker. During the scene in which Dominique has an orgasm, he told Julie Delpy exactly how long she had to moan and when she had to start to moan louder.

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Goofs

After the court-room scene, Karol Karol is throwing up, but we can't hear a "vomit splash", and there isn't vomit in the closet.

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Quotes

Karol Karol: [to the man who wanted help committing suicide] That was a blank. The next one's real. Are you sure?

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Connections

Featured in 1,001 Movies You Must See (Before You Die) (2014)

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Soundtracks

To ostatnia niedziela
Composed by Jerzy Petersburski and Z. Friedwald

User Reviews

Conjugal wickedness that cries out for vengeance

WHITE IS THE COLOR OF DOMINIQUE'S WEDDING DRESS at the exit of the church, surrounded by the blazing whiteness of an overexposed background, full of subtle symbolisms imbued with hypnotic nuances. WHITE is the glimmer of the impending reflexes in the background of a lazy town buried under the snow. WHITE is the bust of a statue caressed as a memento of a love irremediably lost. WHITE is Dominique's final orgasm, a real scream of liberation from the yoke of her spiteful stubbornness, the false revenge of a woman unaware of her impending calamity, completely unacquainted with the bitter game of make-believe inspired by a wickedness that cries out for vengeance. According to Karol, the main character, it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. His desire for revenge blows out his residual flickering flame of love after having suffered unforgivable affronts devised by his heartless wife.

"Trzy kolory: Bialy" (Three colors: White), second episode inspired to the three colors of the French flag and to the three principles of the French Revolution (Freedom, Equality and Fraternity), brings back to us two old acquaintances, Zbigniew Zamachowski (very similar to the pathetic Italian character Fantozzi,) and Jerzy Stuhr. It may be considered the most unforeseeable movie of the whole colors trilogy, full of sharp and witty tones of grotesque melodrama, with a reluctant and peevish Julie Delphy never seen so cold-mannered on the screen before. The inborn sense of Kieslovski's BLACK humor comes out here in all its might almost counterbalancing the concept of absolute WHITE connected with he story.

"Three colors: white" is very different from the other two episodes of the trilogy, but nonetheless the unmistakable touch of the genius can be generously found in the accurate care of the details, in the emotional intensity of the dialogs, in the careful analysis of the individual values, in his safe distance from the events represented by him, in his constant application of the principle of casualness and in his large use of metaphors (look for instance at the sequences of simultaneous flights of pigeons, symbolizing an open concept of freedom often cherished in his works). And Julie Delphy's following words sound as a sort of sincere homage to Kieslovski's art: "Kieslowski is a director who draws his inspiration from the true life of people, who instills his own soul into his movie, who dwells upon the details as if he wanted to examine the life under a microscope." Absolutely true. There is nothing else left to say: "Three colors: red" looms on the horizon.

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