Red, dir. by Kryzsztof Kieslowski
3rd of three films in his Trois Couleurs trilogy
**Red is
the third of a trilogy of films based on the French national flag, the Tricolor--Blue
stands for Freedom, White for Equality, and Red for Fraternity. The film Red
is the climactic film in this series.
1. Man making
phone call. He has a photo of his lover on the desk. Or is that a photo of
Valentine? his sister?? Great tracking shot of phone call simulation, all the
wires, underground cables,--so he is making phone call from another country?
Flashing red lights, then title,
2. Then cut
to phone again and a busy signal. He calls again.
3. Young man,
neighbor of Valentine, takes dog for a walk.
4. Young man
on street, then camera up to the Valentine's window, and we hear the phone
ringing. Rocking chair still rocking, where she was sitting, and then she
rushes in and stops the answering machine--answers phone. It's Michel. They
talk. He seem possessive--they were in Poland. Had their car stolen. They are
home again. She tells him she "felt lonely last night." She slept
with his red coat over her. She pulls it out. "I wanted to be with
you." "I can't now, Valentine" He's in England. She's in Geneva.
Camera up to the window as she looks that way. Camera shows young man across
street returning with hi dog. "I miss you," and he says, "I miss
you, too."
5. Back to
young man's apartment. He dials phone. Behind him is a photograph of a young
woman in ballet position, her head back. We'll see that in the next scene. He
gets number: "Personal weather reports?" He makes sound of a kiss.
Must be his lover.
6. Young man
leaves his apt and heads for his RED jeep. He leaves. He leaves. She walks into
the grame and stops at the store across from her apartment. She plays the slots
as is her custom.
7. Her photo
shoot. The photographer asks her to put her sweater around her and look sad. At
profile. She does so, and he coaches her to look sad. Great shot of her from
the side.
8. Then
Valentine at the ballet school practicing. She leans back (we saw in picture in
young man's apartment) and seems to cry--not just in pain, but as if she has
some grief.
9. She is
drinking water like she's famished. What's going on here?
10. Cut to
her at work on fashion show stage. Tension of the work. She almost slips. She
is fighting to control her expression--she looks so relaxed. Later, she sits in
the car and holds sher wrists-has she tried to commit suicide? She seems upset.
She holds her hands over her face. She is deep in thought. She drives away.
11. Low angle
shot from side of her car. A motorcycle stops ahead of her at stop sign. Red
car, flashing light. Cut to her watching. Then we see young man drop his books
on the street. He picks up one of the books and it is opened to a
page--Eureka--he has found something. He walks away. In the distance we see a
billboard that has been stripped and is ready for the next set up. Then we see
a red negative being held up to the light in the lower right of the frame.
Where does that fit?
12. Cut to
her as she drives. She tries to get the radio to work. Inattention. She looks
up again. Then down. Then we hear a bump. She stops. She backs up. Cut to dog
lying on the street--she hit the dog. Female dog. It's quivering. She walks up
to it and picks up the dog. It's bleeding in the chest. Dog is in t he car.
Name is Rita. It has address on her collar She looks up address. Dog licks her
hand.
13. She
arrives at address where owner lives. She goes up to the house. No answer. She
goes inside. She hears sound of static in the distance. Tracking shot from her
pov. Crowded old place, lots of hallways. Finally she sees old man sitting at a
desk. "I ran over your dog." "If I ran over your daughter, would
you be so different." "I have no daughter, MIss." He asks her to
leave. He turns his back on her again. She goes. After she leaves, the camera
track sin slightly on him in the room--hi back to the camera. At the gate she
turns and looks back-he has gotten up and looked toward her a the door.
14. At Vet's
office. She takes dog home with her. Then cut to her on the phone with Michel.
He doesn't seem excited she has a dog. He tells her to return the dog. She
realizes her car alarm is on. He won't wait until she turns it off.
15. Cut to
her neighbor's room--ECU of his hand studying passage he found in one of his
books. He hears car alarm. He moves to the window and sees his lover
approaching--but behind that woman is the car with Valentine running toward it
to turn off the alarm. Young man is happy about sex coming up the steps.
16. Valentine
checks photos with the photographer. He likes the ones of her against red
background. "The breath of life" is the advertisement for a gum. He
asks which she prefers--she picks out the one he likes, too. She'll be 25 by 65
feet. Then he touches he softly on the cheek. "Who are you thinking
of?" He moves toward her--to kiss her. "She turns away in the dark.
"Not you."
17. Note that
on the cut, we see her getting out of her car, and a motorcycle zips by her at
that moment--we've seen that guy before and will see him again. She follows her
routine, goes to store, plays the slot, and this time wins big. The manager
comes over and says, "That's a bad sign." "I think I know why I
won." she says. Cut to her in her apartment. She puts winnings in a
jar--another part of her routine. She opens the newspaper and sees a picture of
her brother--shooting drugs. She hears a knock on the door. It's the manager of
her apartment complex--he has a letter with some money in it for her. Who from?
He notices the picture of her brother in the paper. He wonders if her parents
read that paper. She wants him away.
18. She calls
her brother, Marc. She says, "Tell him I called."
19. She takes
dog for a walk. She lets him go and says don't run away. Of course, she runs
away. Dog goes into a church. She follows. In her car again. An idea--she goes
back to the man's house. There's Rita. Valentine smiles. The old man comes out.
"Call her. She's yours." She gives him his money--he sent 600 francs,
but only cost 130 francs. He goes to fetch change. She follows. "You don't
want her," she asks about the dog. "I want nothing." "Then
stop breathing (breath of life)," she says. "Good idea." He goes
into the house. Rita follows. Here comes Valentine The man doesn't come back.
She knocks on the window. The dog is waiting. She goes to the door. "You
don't breathe anymore?" She goes inside. Great suspense here as she keeps
moving forward and begins to hear a phone conversation between two male lovers.
Finally the old man comes forward and surprises her. She is afraid at first. He
tells her he is spying. "You cut if off just as it was getting
interesting. You don't find it entertaining." "It's disgusting."
"Yes, what's more it's illegal." Yet she takes the additional thirty
francs from him. Note the image of Bach or whoever under the money. He wonders
if she is persuaded that she is right. "then why don't you do anything? Go
see this man. Tell him someone listens to his conversations--me." "I
will." He points to where the house is.
20. Valentine
at the man's house. Wife says husband is on the phone. As Valentine moves
forward through the house, she looks to the right and sees the daughter is
listening in on the phone. Valentine flees. We see her leaving the gate of t he
man's house--nr. 22. Across the street the old man is watching her. Then as she
leaves, we see the lover in the red jeep drop off his lover at the house next
door. All in the same neighborhood!!! Wait, Valentine has not left. She returns
to the old man's house. He gives her the money. "So? Did you tell him."
Valentine says, "I came back to ask you something. Don't do this
anymore." "I've done it all my life." He asks here what he was.
"A cop?" "Worse. A judge." Valentine seems to crouch down,
as if in despair. He muses about his past. "Here, at least, I now where
the truth is." She refuses to believe his cynicism. "Everyone
deserves a private life." He begins to badger her. Why couldn't she tell
the man? Then he asks her to stay. Why is she staying?
21. She seems
to be about to break down. "Does this remind you of something?" he
asks. "A boy I know." "Who found out his mother's a whore?"
"Who learned he's not his father's son. He was fifteen." Then she
drops a bomb--the daughter knows about her father. Then he asks her to say.
"The light is beautiful." Note how light changes on him. We hear him
listen to phone call from another neighbor--the weather woman. Great use of
light in the frame. He goes to the window and looks at the sun falling over
edge of roof. Then another phone call--this one of the weather woman, from her
lover. They talk about lovemaking. Valentine listens for a while, and then
covers her ears--on the cue when they talk about lovemaking. She tries to hold
her ears tight. The old man watches her. The two decide to go bowling. Note how
old man flips coin with the couple--Valentine says, "They're in
love." But old man says, "He hasn't met the right woman yet." He
tells her watches them from his window. He invites her to look. There is the
man across the street on the phone again. The man has a wavelength on the phone
the old man can't tap into. We see that man (not the man making love to the
other man, I presume), and he is distinguished looking--Valentine comes to the
window and admires the man's looks. The old man decides to call this man. By the
way, the judge believes the man is responsible for most of the heroin trade in
Europe. And of course, Valentine's brother is stuck on heroin. So we watch the
stranger get the phone call from the judge. Wait, Valentine takes the phone.
"You deserve to die," she says. Cut to the man in the yard with his
cell phone. He runs away after looking around. Valentine seems shaken.
22. She goes
back to the judge and squats down against the wall. He lets the phone run
again, and they listen to a message about a mother who wishes her daughter
would visit her more. The daughter is losing interest in her Mom. So the judge
cuts off the phone and tells Valentine to run the old woman's errands for her.
"Maybe you'd feel better." Valentine stands up again and suddenly the
two talk bout Rita--why Valentine saved her. Was it because Valentine would
have felt guilty otherwise? Valentine seems to indicate yes--but it's as if she
is continually being stunned by this old man. Then he tells her that the old
woman fakes heart attacks just to have her daughter visit--and now the daughter
no longer believes the mother--another failed relationship.
Then Valentine strikes back.
"You're mistaken. . . about everything. People aren't bad. They may be
weak sometimes." Then the judge cuts her off. He zeros in on the boy--her
brother? "How long has he been shooting up?" "How did you
know?" "Wasn't hard to guess." She shoots a glance at him.
"I can only feel pity for you." She walks away. Then she turns back.
"Maybe you don't know, you're dog is pregnant." He looks stunned
now."
23. She
drives home again. Music up. She is crying. Back home, she gets out of her car.
She heads toward her apartment. Camera up. We see that motorcycle again. Camera
up and we see phone ringing in the man's room. Then cut to him coming out of
the store. He hears his phone. Camera up--and we see Valentine across the
street entering her apartment and turning on the light. He reaches the phone.
Too late. He calls his love.r Too late.
24. Cut to
Valentine's apartment. She calls her brother. He is with Mom and his girlfriend
is t here. Mom knows nothing. Brother says, "We're leaving tomorrow. We
can't stand it." Mom hasn't seen newspaper." Valentine hangs up--a
look of sadness son her face. "Call me, Michel." She needs to be supported
now. Phone rings--but it's not Michel. It's the ;photographer wanting her to
check out the new billboard with her photo on it. She isn't interested in that
point. "I've had a hard day."
25. Cut to
the bowling alley (where lovers are supposed to meet). There is Valentine and
friends. Camera suddenly moves to the left and stops on a broken half drank
glass of beer and the cigarettes of the lover--he had waited in vain for the
weather woman to show up.
26. Cut to
the judge's house. He sits there and looks sad. Cut to the dog sitting nearby.
The old man gets papers out and looks trough them. Choir-like chorus--What is
he writing? The dog watches him from her basket. Who is the old man writing to?
27. Here
comes the police radio truck checking out the radio signals. The old man will
be caught.
28. Cut to
billboard of Valentine--the young lover, her neighbor, sees the billboard. He
smiles. Then goes with green light.
29. Valentine
rushes into her house to answer ringing phone. She can't get in. She asks
manager to help her. Some kids have left gum in the keyhole. She answers the
phone. Michel is suspicious. "I told you not to." Michel is angry.
"All I want is peace, a little peace and quiet." "Life won't be
peaceful with me." Then he asks, "Did you meet someone?"
"No, I'm waiting for you." She looks upset. He won't believe her
story about being locked out. He tells her he's going to Hungary. He seems
angry, hangs up on her. "It's starting again..." she muses. She goes
to the bathroom. Back to the phone. "Are you asleep?" Are you in
bed?" Is this Michel again? If so, this time she hangs up on him.
30. Our young
lover comes out of the exam and is joyful--he passed. He is with the weather
girl. She says she knew he would make it. "Did they ask the question? From
the book you dropped on the street?" He nods. So it was fate. She hands
him a gift. A new pen. "What will be the first judgment I sign?" So
he is to be a judge??? The old man as a young judge? Then a great cut to a wide
shot, and now the young couple is in the background, and Joseph Kern, the old
judge, is watching them. It's as if he watches the young couple and realizes he
is looking into the past. Then we realize the old man is being called into
court, and the weather girl, and the other neighbors, are there to file
charges.
31. Then cut
to Valentine listening to music under earphones in a music store. The weather
girl and the young lovers are right behind her. in fact, the young man's back is
turned to her. The three were listening to the same music. Van den
Budenmayer--this is a joke, the music's composer of the film, no such man as
Van den Budenmayer. She goes to buy the disc, and we see the label--we realize
this is the music that the old judge played in his house (we saw the
label--picture of 18th century person, under the money when he gave her the
additional 30 francs. So the young lovers bought the last copy.
32. She is
working hard at ballet--leaning backwards again--and notices the paper--the
judge has been caught for espionage.
33. The old
man answers his door. She is nervous, desperate. "I want you to know I
didn't tell a soul. Not the police. No one." He tells her he turned
himself in. "You asked me to." Then he asks her to come in. She turns
at the door and looks through the window at the last light of the day, the sun
dropping rom behind the mountain. What a beautiful sight. She is smiling before
we see the cut to her pov shot. She is a good person, who has made the old man
become a good man.
Inside the house. He shows her the
seven pups Rita has borne. He invites her to have some pear brandy. They drink
a toast to his health. "Why did you do it?" "To see what you'd
do once you saw it in your paper." He raises his arms and holds them at
the door jamb. She seems nervous. Does he want sex from her. "Do you
expect something from me?" He says yes. Then we have a STRANGE cut--now
he's seated, and she stands over him. "While you sit down for a
moment?" he asks. She squat down next to the table. "Will you smile
for me?" She makes a feeble smile. "The day you left you cried."
"I cried." "And I shut off my radio." He begins to tell her
a story of what he did. But first, there is a quick cut to a tracking shot,
rapid, until we see part of a wrecked back room--not sure why--then we resume
shot of him still seated at the table with her squatting across from him. He
tells her about writing letters to the police.
She tells him she went bowling that
night. He thinks perhaps she was right next to the couple they heard on the
wiretap--we know the man was stood up that evening. Then a great cut to a wide
shot, from the side, and we see them fixed upon each other--sitting directly
across from one another. "You didn't like her." This I think is
question about old man's fascination with the weather girl. "It's almost
over. I was right." "Did you provoke it?" again a question about
the weather girl. "Yes or no?" He admits, "Because of my
eavesdropping and the trial, the girl met another man."
Cut to the
young man, can't reach the lover on the phone.
34. Back to
Valentine, still with the old man. Now she is talking about her own situation.
Her mother, her brother. She tells him she is going to England next week.
"I'm abandoning my mother and my brother. Every day he gets a little
worse." But the old man encourages her. "It's your destiny. You can't
live your brother's life for him." But she says, "I love him. I wish
I could help." That's her nature. His answer. "You can. Be."
What? "That's all: Be." They hear a plane. He encourages her to take
the ferry. She agrees They drink to each other. She smiles. "Today is my
birthday." She didn't know. He recalls that 35 years ago he acquitted a
man. A big case. "I have since realized I made a mistake. He was guilty."
A light goes out. He steals from another light and replaces the bulb. She is
lit brightly, almost stark white, and then softened when he replaces shade. She
asks what happened. "I did my own investigation. He's married with three
children. A grandson. Living in peace." She shows a serene expression on
her face. Cut to him. Her voice: "So what you did was necessary. And you
did it well." Back to her. "You saved him." JUST AS SHE IS
SAVING HIM! All of this is shot with simple parallel cuts--lighting is superb
(backgrounds have vanished as they have stayed until darkness)--great intimacy
here. She asks for another drink. She sands and toasts, "To you!"
"If I had to go to court, are there still judges like you?" He tells
her, "Justice doesn't deal with the innocent." Suddenly a brick goes
through the window. His response: "It's the sixth window they've
broken." She cleans up the glass. She laces the rock on the piano--the
sixth rock! Not quite dark outside. "I wonder what I'd do in their place.
The same thing." He thinks of the people he sentenced. " Given their
lives, I'd steal, I'd lie, I'd kill." She comes closer to him. "Is
there someone you love?" No. "Have you ever loved?" A long
reaction shot of him. "Yesterday I dreamt ... I dreamt of you."
Reaction shot. "You were 40 or 50 years old, and you were happy."
"Do your dreams come true? she asks. "It's been years since I dreamt
something nice."
35. Cut to
young man trying to call his lover. He looks desperate. He takes off. He drives
to her place, climbs up in her buildings ledge, and peers into her apt--there
she is having sex with another man.
36. The lover
pulls up in his red jeep. He doesn't turn off the lights. Cut to Valentine on
the phone to Michel. "Do you love me?" she asks. "I think
so." "You love me or you think you love me?" "It's the same
thing," he says. "No," she says. Cut to her getting up and
looking out her window--right at the young man in the red jeep. She stares at
him blankly, then turns away. Cut to the young man walking away from the jeep.
Camera pans right and follows him to the building. Inside, he drops onto the
bed and chases away his dog. He is depressed.
37. Cut to
Valentine, after her shower, watching the red jeep from her window. She worries
about the battery. Cut to the crazed lover watching his former girlfriend
through the window. He taps on the window with his new pen, then leaves. Who is
the young man? Have we seen him before. Then the woman comes out and calls,
"Auguste!" He hides from her.
38. The old
man, Joseph Kern, on the phone again. He calls the weather girl--says he's been
trying for several days. She says she was sick. Then she tells him she's going
to England soon--by yacht. they say goodbye.
39. There is
Auguste tying up his dog by the side of the road. He drives away and stops the
jeep. He looks rough.
40. Valentine
at rehearsal, she asks staff person to send invitation to Mr. Kern.
41 Old Kern
at the garage. He opens the door and gets into his old Mercedes. Opera comes up
on the track. He probably hasn't driven this car for ages. Dry leaves
around--autumn. We see him in the car--serious look on his face. At a stop sign
he sees the billboard of Valentine Later, he parks.
42. There is
the runway, lit with flashes, and Valentine watching for Kern. She comes out
and does her work. Afterwards in the dressing room she is taking off makeup.
She seems sad. ON the way out with the other women, suddenly she spots Mr. Kern
far down the aisle. She comes over to him. She stands above him. "Did you
look for me?" "During the entire show." She squats down.
"I'd
like you to tell me in detail the dream you had."
"You were 50 years old, and you were happy."
"In this dream, was there someone else?"
"There was."
"Who?"
He pauses. "You woke up and you smiled at someone next to you."
"That's what will happen? In 25 or 30 years?"
"Yes."
"What else do you know? Who are you?"
"A retired judge."
"I feel something important is happening around me. And it scares
me."
He reaches out to take her hand.
Then he tells her he used to come there often. He sat where he always
sat--including today. "One day, during the intermission, my elastic broke
holding the books broke, and one of them fell down right in front of them. It
was just before my exams." This was when he was in law school. By the way,
notice how handsome he looks--clean shaven. "The book had opened to a
certain page. It was the question they asked on the exam." She says
getting out has done him good. "I had to recharge the battery," he
says. "It was dead."
Suddenly
they hear a loud noise. A storm has come up. She fights to close the windows.
She is gutsy. He listens from a distance.
Cut
to a later scene. They have had a cup of coffee . She says, "I was
wondering why you mentioned that earlier (or is the word
"sailor"?." She says, "Because you didn't want to tell me
something more important.." A pause. "About the woman that you
loved."
Cut
to a long shot from her pov. He looks small sitting in the chair. She betrayed
you..." he nods. "She betrayed you, and you never understood why. And
you kept on loving her."
Cut to CU of Mr. Kern. "How do
you know all this?"
"It wasn't hard to guess."
THIS REPEATS earlier interaction. "What was she like?"
He
tells her she was two years older--same as the young man in the film--she was
blonde, delicate,
radiant, with a long neck." Then he says in a mirror in the foyer he saw
her making sex with someone else.
"Why did that happen? Do you
know?"
"This
man, whose name was Hugo Hobbling, could offer her what she wanted. They left.
I followed them. I crossed France, the Channel...I was...humiliated. Until the
days she died in an accident. Since then I've never loved another woman. I
stopped believing. Maybe I never met the woman...Maybe you're the woman I never
met."
The story doesn't end there.
No. A while ago, I was given a
difficult case. On it was written the name of the defendant. Hugo Hobbling.
The same man.
He'd come back here.
They are interrupted by janitor. He
leaves
You shouldn't have taken the case.
I
didn't want to. At first I wanted to kill him. I would have, if it would have
changed something. Now, he was waiting for my verdict. He was building a
covered market which caved in. Several people died. I said he was guilty. It
was a legal sentence. Afterwards, I asked for early retirement.
Janitor interrupts again.
Valentine sits below him. She looks
up at him. He looks down.
43. Outside
by his car he gives her some brandy. She says he'll be gone 2-3 weeks. She asks
him to give her one of the puppies. He asks if the fashion show will be on TV.
"I better buy a tv." She says she will have her brother Marc bring
him her TV. "I'd like to meet him. I'll see you soon." She says goodbye.
"Do you have your ticket?" he asks. He examines the ticket. He hands
it back to her. She reaches down and touches her hand against the glass, where
his hand rests. She watches after the car. Then she watches an old woman who
can't reach high enough to plop a bottle in a recycle bin. She goes to the
woman and helps her.
44. Valentine
getting on the ferry. Behind her is the lover, and he holds the dog in his
hand. The two miss each other several times.
45. Her
billboard comes down as the wind comes up--storm a coming. Rain pelting, leaves
falling all around. Storm clouds. Old man's apartment--the puppies climbing
about. After the storm. The old man goes out to the mail. He sees headline of
ferry disaster. Seven passengers escape. He turns on television. We see images.
Two people on a yacht are missing. Then we see photos of rescue. The widow of a
French composer who died last year (featured in Kieslowski's previous film, Blue),
Steven Killian, barman on the ferry, English, a businessman from Poland,
Dominique Vidal, French citizen, Frenchman Oliver Benoit, two Swiss Citizens,
and we see first the young man and the Valentine--cut to old man watching,
emotion in his face. Cut to two shot of Valentine and Auguste, then camera in
on her--now a closeup, same as the shot of her from the billboard, and then cut
to Kern (looking out through one of his broken windows), and then back to CU of
Valentine.
Summary
written by Robert Yahnke
Copyright, Robert E. Yahnke, © 2001
Professor, General College, Univ. of Minnesota,
Reprinted by permission of the author
for educational use only