10 Things I Learned: Three Colors
By November 29, 2011
Film Info
- France, Poland
- 1994
- 91 minutes
- Color
- 1.85:1
- French, Polish
- Spine #589
The most playful and also the grittiest of Kieślowski’s Three Colors films follows the adventures of Karol Karol (Zbigniew Zamachowski), a Polish immigrant living in France. The hapless hairdresser opts to leave Paris for his native Warsaw when his wife (Julie Delpy) sues him for divorce (her reason: their marriage was never consummated) and then frames him for arson after setting her own salon ablaze. White, which goes on to chronicle Karol Karol’s elaborate revenge plot, manages to be both a ticklish dark comedy about the economic inequalities of Eastern and Western Europe and a sublime reverie about twisted love.
Cast
| Karol Karol | Zbigniew Zamachowski |
| Dominique | Julie Delpy |
| Mikolaj | Janusz Gajos |
| Jurek, Karol’s brother | Jerzy Stuhr |
| Notary lawyer | Aleksander Bardini |
| Elegant man | Grzegorz Warchoł |
| Inspector | Cezary Harasimowicz |
| Old farmer | Jerzy Nowak |
| Monsieur Bronek | Jerzy Trela |
| Tall man | Piotr Machalica |
| Madame Jadwiga | Teresa Budzisz-Krzyzanowska |
Credits
| Director | Krzysztof Kieślowski |
| Producer | Marin Karmitz |
| Screenplay | Krzysztof Piesiewicz and Krzysztof Kieślowski |
| Original music | Zbigniew Preisner |
| Cinematography | Edward Kłosiński |
| Editing | Urszula Lesiak |
| Sound | Jean-Claude Laureux |
| Sound mixer | William Flageollet |
| Production design | Halina Dobrowolska and Claude Lenoir |
| Set decorator | Magdalena Dipont |
| Assistant directors | Teresa Violette Buhl and Emmanuel Finkiel |
| Production manager | Ryszard Chutkowski |
| Executive producer | Yvon Crenn |
| Screenplay consultants | Agnieszka Holland, Edward Zebrowski and Edward Kłosiński |
| Dialogue translator | Marcin Latallo |
| Casting | Margot Capelier and Teresa Violetta Buhl |
| Script continuity | Geneviève Dufour |
| Set photographer | Piotr Jaxa |
| Costume design | Elzbieta Radke, Teresa Wardzala, Jolanta Luczak and Virginia Viard |
| Hair and makeup | Jean-Pierre Caminade, Jolanta Pruszynska and Jadwiga Cichocka |
Disc Features
- New high-definition digital restoration, with 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- Cinema lesson with director Krzysztof Kieślowski
- New video essay by film critic Tony Rayns
- Two new interview programs, one with Three Colors cowriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz and one with White actors Zbigniew Zamachowski and Julie Delpy
- Short documentary on the making of White
- Two short documentaries by Kieślowski: Seven Women of Different Ages (1978) and Talking Heads (1980)
- Original theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
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My Criterion
“Amazing soundtrack, and excellent cinematography. One of the best trilogies in existence.”
