Three Colors: Red

Released 1994
Cast: Irene Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Frederique Feder, Jean-Pierre Lorit
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski

This time around, the protagonists are a young woman named Valentine (Irene Jacob, who starred in Kieslowski's The Double Life of Veronique) and a crotchety retired judge, Joseph Kern (Jean-Louis Trintignant). Valentine, a fashion model, meets the judge after running down his dog in the street and taking the injured animal to the address listed on the collar. Kern is initially indifferent to his pet's predicament, telling Valentine to keep the dog if that's what she wants. She does; however, the animal eventually runs away and finds its way back to the judge's. When Valentine goes searching, she inadvertently learns Kern's secret - he enjoys spying on people by illegally tapping into their phone conversations.

Told in parallel with the chronicle of the unusual friendship between Valentine and the judge is the story of two lovers that Kern spies upon. Auguste (Jean-Pierre Lorit) and Karin (Frederique Feder), seem devoted to each other, but fate has already cast its die against them. For Auguste's life is eerily similar to that of Kern thirty years ago and, like the older man, he is drawn by forces beyond his control towards Valentine.

Summary by James Berardinelli

"Red" is about fate and coincidences and about how much our lives owe to chance, but I was a little bored during the first half. It's very coy as it plays with its characters without giving us any sense of who they're paired with. We always see one half of a relationship but it takes a long time to see the other half. One of the movie's points is how random relationships are, but the movie's not engaging until Valentine and the Judge's friendship grows. It then becomes more interesting as we consider the possibilities between Valentine and the Judge, and we watch the Judge's youth replay itself through Auguste. I liked how Valentine was drawn to the Judge, but not romantically. He, on the other hand, saw his lost love in her but was powerless to recapture her. --Bill Alward, June 26, 2003