Sight & Sound Challenge: Three Colors: Red (1994)

Film: Three Colors: Red (149/250) 

First Time/Rewatch: First Time

I'm really drawn to Irène Jacob. I had only seen her in The Double Life of Veronique (actually scratch that, apparently she was in Au revoir, les enfants but it's been too long since I saw that) and there's just something about her face. It's so open and beautiful. There's an innocence and a vulnerability there that just isn't in most actresses. It's her face that makes you feel her loneliness, her curiosity, and her warmth. In this film, Jacob plays a model which gives her even more opportunity to use that wonderful face. The relationship between this model and the retired judge who regularly eavesdrops on his neighbor's conversations (Jean-Louis Trintignant) reminded me a bit of Amelie Poulain and her reclusive neighbor who spies on everyone. Both are unlikely friendships tinged in melancholy. Both involve dipping the protagonist's toes in the world of voyeurism, and both challenge the audience to rethink their relationship to the outside world. I skipped Three Colors: White but having enjoyed Blue and Red so much, I'll have to finish the trilogy someday. Kieślowski hasn't let me down yet.