Hi, everyone. I am Rebecca and I am a junior student at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, majoring in Film and TV Production. I am a movie buff, so I am very glad to share my film reviews with you guys on Jianshu. Now I'd like to share a Kieslowski's film called The Double Life of Véronique.
The Double Life of Véronique (Fuente & Kieslowski, 1991) is a beautiful and mysterious film. Although two girls with the same appearance are in different times and spaces, they can feel the exchange of their souls between Poland and France. I choose the shot from 15:48 to 15:54 in the film to analyze. At this moment, two Véronique accidentally meet at the same time and space, and there is a point of intersection in their lives. Before this shot, the Polish Weronika is praised by the choir’s music teacher. She takes the music scores and walks on the square happily, but the music scores are knocked off by a man who is running. She picks up the music scores and continues walking when she suddenly comes across the French Véronique, who looks exactly like her and even dresses similarly. Hence, in this shot I chose we can see the Polish Weronika’s reaction after seeing the French Véronique.
How would you react when you come across someone who looks exactly like you on the road? I think everyone’s first reaction will be the same as the Polish Weronika in this shot. She widens her eyes, opens her mouth slightly, and forgets the unpleasantness just now, only feeling shocked and incredible. However, Weronika has a little difference. Her expression shows not only shock but even surprise. A shadow of a smile touches her mouth. Because she feels that she "is not alone in this world" has finally been confirmed. Through this expression, the audience can intuitively feel the stunning beauty and shocking effect of the mysterious theory of “the other me in the world” (Yin, 2009) (1.1).
Seeing this shot, in addition to being surprised by the unpredictability of the development of things, we will also be attracted by the way the director shot. The director uses a telephoto lens to take a rotating pan shot centered on Weronika. Simultaneously, this shot also zooms in slowly. From Weronika’s long shot to a medium-long shot, her expression is gradually enlarged, allowing the audience to see her reaction more clearly when she encountered the same self. Through the use of the pan shot, only Weronika, who is in the center of the whole picture, is relatively still. Therefore, when I watched this shot for the first time, my eyes were focused on Weronika. But when I watched it for the second time, I noticed that in the background, there were demonstrators and police officers who had come to suppress them (2.1). They were blurred, and the background sounds were filled with the noise of police cars driving and the crowd whistling. It gives the whole picture a contrast between movement and static, which further shows the state when Polish Weronika sees French Véronique as if there are only two of them left in the world. The theory of “two people with the same name and appearance coexist at the same time and space” is originally mysterious and difficult to express, but the rotating pan shot perfectly presents this theory. This shot creates a dreamlike effect (Yin, 2009), like being caught in a vortex of time and space (2.2). It seems that only in this place can there be this kind of spatiotemporal reaction, and two people can meet.
Not only is the shooting method special, but the director also uses color skillfully. Whether it is the protagonist’s costume or the color of the film, they are all cleverly arranged. In terms of clothing, Weronika wears a red sweater and a black coat. From the perspective of color and light, black means no light (Liu, 2009). It reminds people of night and loneliness, revealing a feeling of depression (Liu, 2009). Red symbolizes enthusiasm and vigor, allowing the audience to feel Weronika’s desire for life and her passionate pursuit of singing (Ma, 2011). The black coat suppresses the red inside as if death is slowly eroding Weronika's vitality. It makes me wonder; does it mean death when red is completely covered by black? And at 27:15 of the film, my thoughts are confirmed. Weronika wears a black dress with a white bow (3.1). The red color is gone, and her death has come. In terms of the tone, this shot is dominated by yellow tones (2.2). On the one hand, yellow is a warm color, ambiguous and unpredictable, with a sense of mysticism (Li, 2011). And this shot shows the incredible moment of the encounter of two Weronika, so the yellow color expresses the mystery vividly. On the other hand, I think yellow in this shot also has a negative meaning. The tone of the scene before this shot is yellow and green, such as the scene from 13:28 in the film (3.2), but the tone of this shot I chose gradually is turning to yellow, which seems a bit bleak. It seems to indicate that the color of her life is gradually fading, and it also suggests her later death, revealing a trace of sadness.
This shot has unique arrangements in numerous aspects such as character performance, costumes, camerawork, composition, and colors, presenting a beautiful, mysterious, and somewhat sad picture. At the same time, this sense of mystery is not "occupying", but "pervading", just right. If two Véronique with the same name and appearance always live on two parallel lines and never cross each other for a lifetime, this becomes “occupation”. Through this shot, it proves that “one is not alone in this world”, making this no longer an illusory imagination. Such a sense of mystery also makes me wonder, will there be another me in the world?
References (APA)
Fuente, L. D. L. (Producer), & Kieslowski, K. (Screenwriter/ Director). (1991). The Double Life of Véronique [Motion Picture]. France: Sidéral Productions.
Li, J. (2011). 另一个自我——解读《维罗妮卡的双重生命》 [Another Self: An Interpretation of The Double Life of Véronique]. Movie Review, (20), pp.48-50.
Liu, P. (2009). 浅论服装中的黑色 [On Black in Clothing]. Science & Technology Information, (32), pp.191.
Ma, Y. B. (2011). 灵与肉的哀歌——《两生花》的视听语言分析 [The Lamentation of Spirit and Body: An Audio-Visual Linguistic Analysis of The Double Life of Véronique]. Movie Review, (15), pp.31-33.
Yin, L. (2009). 浅析基耶斯洛夫斯基的电影风格 [A Brief Analysis of Kieslowski’s Film Style]. Movie Literature, (4), pp.50-51.
