Product Details

• Actors: Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy, Irene Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Zbigniew Zamachowski
• Directors: Krzysztof Kieslowski
• Format: Box set, Color, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: French, Polish
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Criterion Collection
• DVD Release Date: November 15, 2011
• Run Time: 288 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (104 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B005HK13O0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,220 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Even though one can view each segment of Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors trilogy on its own, it seems absurd to do so; why buy the slacks instead of the entire suit? Created by Kieslowski and his writing partner Krzysztof Piesiewicz for France's bicentennial, the titles--and the themes of the films--come from the three colors of the French flag representing liberty, equality, and fraternity. Blue examines liberation through the eyes of a woman (Juliette Binoche) who loses her husband and daughter in an auto accident, and solemnly starts anew. White is an ironic comedy about a befuddled Polish husband (Zbigniew Zamachowski) who takes an odd path of revenge against his ex-wife (Julie Delpy). A Swiss model (Irène Jacob) strikes up a friendship with a retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who eavesdrops on his neighbors in Red. The trilogy is a snapshot of European life at a time of reconstruction after the Cold War, reflected through Kieslowski's moralist view of human nature and illumined by each title's palate color.

The DVD set has numerous extras spread throughout the three discs; the end result is a superior collection. Each disc has a short retrospective, culled together from new interviews with Kieslowski's crew, plus film critic Geoff Andrew, biographer Annette Insdorf (who also does the commentaries), and fellow Polish director Ageniska Holland. Producer Marin Karmitz also reminisces about the experience. There's an exceptional effort to show the magic of Kieslowski (who died two years after the trilogy) through a discussion of his various career phases, interviews with the three lead actresses, four student films, and archival materials including simple--and wonderful--glimpses of the director at work. Excellent insight is also provided by Dominique Rabourdin's filmed "cinema lessons" with Kieslowski. Without viewing any of his other films, this set illustrates the uniqueness of Kieslowski. --Doug Thomas

Product Description

This boldly cinematic trio of stories about love and loss from Krzysztof Kieślowski (The Double Life of Véronique) was a defining event of the art-house boom of the 1990s. The films were named for the colors of the French flag and stand for the tenets of the French Revolution—liberty, equality, and fraternity—but this hardly begins to explain their enigmatic beauty and rich humanity. Set in Paris, Warsaw, and Geneva, and ranging from tragedy to comedy, Blue, White, and Red (Kieślowski’s final film) examine with artistic clarity a group of ambiguously interconnected people experiencing profound personal disruptions. Marked by intoxicating cinematography and stirring performances by such actors as Juliette Binoche (Summer Hours), Julie Delpy (Before Sunset), Irène Jacob (The Double Life of Véronique), and Jean-Louis Trintignant (Z), Kieślowski’s Three Colors is a benchmark of contemporary cinema.

Blue In the devastating first film of the Three Colors trilogy, Juliette Binoche gives a tour de force performance as Julie, a woman reeling from the tragic deaths of her husband and young daughter. But Blue is more than just a blistering study of grief; it’s also a tale of liberation, as Julie learns truths about her late composer husband’s life and attempts to free herself of the past. Shot in icily gorgeous tones by Sławomir Idziak (The Double Life of Véronique) and set to an extraordinary operatic score by Zbigniew Preisner (The Secret Garden), Blue is an overwhelming sensory experience.

1993

98 minutes

Color

2.0 surround

In French with English subtitles

1.85:1 aspect ratio

White The most playful but also the grittiest of Kieślowski’s Three Colors films follows the adventures of Karol Karol (The Pianist’s Zbigniew Zamachowski), a Polish immigrant living in France. The hapless hairdresser opts to leave Paris for his native Warsaw after his wife (Julie Delpy) sues him for divorce (her reason: he was never able to perform in bed) 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. 1993

91 minutes

Color

2.0 surround

In French and Polish with English subtitles

1.85:1 aspect ratio

Red Krzysztof Kieślowski closes his Three Colors trilogy in grand fashion with an incandescent meditation on fate and chance, starring Irène Jacob as a sweet-souled yet somber runway model in Geneva whose life intersects with that of a bitter retired judge, played by Jean Louis Trintignant. Their blossoming friendship forces each to open up in surprising emotional ways. Meanwhile, just down the street, a seemingly unrelated story of jealousy and betrayal unfolds. Red is an intimate look at forged connections and a splendid final statement from a remarkable filmmaker at the height of his powers.

1994

99 minutes

Color

2.0 surround

In French with English subtitles

1.85:1 aspect ratio

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

113 of 117 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Trilogy DVD set from Miramax March 16, 2003

By keviny01

Format:DVD

The late great Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski cleverly "adapted" the three French ideals -- liberty, equality, fraternity -- into three thought-provoking modern-day dramas about people who cope with personal losses and tragedies. In BLUE, the first of the trilogy, a widow tries to set herself free (and gain liberty) from her emotional baggages. The second film, WHITE, is about a jilted man's outrageous plot to get even (thus, equality) with his ex-wife. The last film, RED, which is also Kieslowski's final film before he died in 1996, is about a lonely old man who is embittered by the memories of his youth and finds accidental companionship (fraternity) with a young model. All three films are understated in their tone, economical in their dialogs, elliptical in their editing and plotting (there are some mind-boggling flashbacks and flash forwards in WHITE), and haunting in their atmosphere.

The references to the three French ideals are actually quite tenuous, and in fact more and more so as the trilogy progresses. BLUE is the only one that deals with the ideal of "freedom" (albeit emotional freedom) in a concrete way, inviting us to ponder its meanings and its attainability. WHITE treats the concept of "equality" in a rather subversive and satiric way, and it clearly wants us to rethink its meanings rather than accepting it at face value. And RED has to do with "fraternity" only circumstantially, and has more to do with the issue of destiny, and how our past is linked to our present. The three films are set not just in France, but also in Poland and Switzerland, and WHITE has primarily Polish dialogs. Hence, a sort of universality is intended.

The three films are also linked in various ways. All three films involve an unfaithful lover who dies, in one way or another.... All three films involve a chance encounter between the distressed protagonist and a sympathetic observer -- the widow and the mistress in BLUE, Karol and Mikolaj in WHITE, the retired judge and the model in RED. Both BLUE and WHITE are about people who move to new surroundings to escape from his or her troubled pasts. And RED, ironically, is about someone who never leaves his home in order to wallow in his self-pity.

Kieslowski had done this sort of thing before. In 1988, he "adapted" the Ten Commandments into ten one-hour, modern-day dramas, collectively titled DECALOGUE, that make us rethink the meanings of the commandments. In the segment for "Thou Shalt Not Steal," for instance, we witness the kidnapping (the theft) of a child from her adopted parents by her natural mother, who thinks she has a right to her custody. Thus, it turns clear-cut moral ideals into real-world dramas that have no clear-cut solutions or judgments.

Miramax released long-awaited Region-1 DVDs for the Three Colors trilogy, and they all have superb video transfers and rewarding extra material. Kieslowski expert Annette Insdorf provides excellent running commentaries for all three films. She analyzes the visual, aural, and editorial techniques, the thematic significance, as well as how the final films deviate from their original screenplays. She points out that Kieslowski films often deal with abstract concepts, such as fate, death, and grief, in very concrete ways. She makes an observant remark about the apparent twist of fate in the opening of BLUE: if the hitchhiker were picked up by the family, the ensuing tragedy might not occur. She points out that the dream-like wedding scene in WHITE, which many assume is a flashback, could also be a flash forward (a very interesting, and plausible, notion). She offers her interpretations to the many symbolisms in the films, such as the frequent fades to black in BLUE, the recurring shot of a stooped old person at a garbage bin, the significance of the concerto music in BLUE, the tango theme in WHITE, and the bolero score in RED. She also explains the intentionally cryptic endings of WHITE and RED.

Each disc comes with several featurettes that comprise about 100 minutes of interviews and commentaries by the cast and crew, Insdorf, film critic Geoff Andrew, and film director Agnieszka Holland. The BLUE and WHITE discs also contain some early short films by Kieslowski: CONCERT OF WISHES, THE TROLLEY, THE FACE, THE OFFICE. All three discs contain a fascinating segment called "Kieslowski's Cinema Lesson," in which the director explains his intentions in one particular scene. The WHITE and RED discs contain behind-the-scenes footage of Kieslowski giving directions on the set. For Kieslowski fans, perhaps the most poignant clip in these supplements is that of Kieslowski announcing his retirement at the '94 Cannes festival, included on the RED disc. Read more ›

58 of 59 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of Criterion's Blu-ray Edition September 23, 2011

By keviny01

Format:Blu-ray

*** 11/26/11: ADDED REVIEW OF CRITERION BLU-RAY EDITION ***

The late great Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski cleverly "adapted" the three French ideals -- liberty, equality, fraternity -- into three thought-provoking modern-day dramas about people who cope with personal losses and tragedies. In BLUE, the first of the trilogy, a widow tries to set herself free (and gain liberty) from her emotional baggages. The second film, WHITE, is about a jilted man's outrageous plot to get even (thus, equality) with his ex-wife. The last film, RED, which is also Kieslowski's final film before he died in 1996, is about a lonely old man who is embittered by the memories of his youth and finds accidental companionship (fraternity) with a young model. All three films are understated in their tone, economical in their dialogs, elliptical in their editing and plotting (there are some mind-boggling flashbacks and flash forwards in WHITE), and haunting in their atmosphere.

The films regard the three French ideals quite indirectly, and in fact more and more so as the trilogy progresses. BLUE is the only one that deals with the ideal of "freedom" (albeit emotional freedom) in a concrete way, inviting us to ponder its meanings and its attainability. WHITE treats the concept of "equality" in a rather subversive and satiric manner, and it clearly wants us to rethink its meanings rather than accepting it at face value. And RED has to do with "fraternity" only circumstantially, and has more to do with the subject of destiny, and how our past is linked to our present. The three films are set not just in France, but also in Poland and Switzerland, and WHITE has primarily Polish dialogs. Hence, a sort of universality is intended.

The three films are also linked in various ways.... All three films involve an unfaithful lover who dies, in one way or another. All three films involve a chance encounter between the distressed protagonist and a sympathetic observer -- the widow and the mistress in BLUE, Karol and Mikolaj in WHITE, the retired judge and the model in RED. Both BLUE and WHITE are about people who move to new surroundings to escape from his or her troubled pasts. And RED, ironically, is about someone who never leaves his home in order to wallow in his self-pity.

Kieslowski had done this sort of thing before. In 1988, he "adapted" the Ten Commandments into ten one-hour, modern-day dramas, collectively titled DECALOGUE, that invite us to rethink the meanings of those principles. In the segment for "Thou Shalt Not Steal," for instance, we witness the kidnapping (the theft) of a child from her adopted parents by her natural mother, who thinks she has a right to her custody. Thus, it turns clear-cut moral ideals into real-world dramas that have no clear-cut solutions or judgments.

The THREE COLORS TRILOGY (as well as DECALOGUE) has the scope and richness that truly earn the films' standing as one of the high points of modern cinematic achievements.

Criterion Blu-ray edition of THREE COLORS offers an improved video transfer over the 2003 Miramax/Buena Vista DVD edition. This is not merely due to the inherent advantage of high-def over standard-def, but also to the fact that Criterion created new remastered transfers that look much better than the old transfers. The Buena Vista edition looks good for its time, but compared to Criterion's effort, the colors often look too warm and saturated, and details in the shadows are often obscured. In a trilogy where colors have great visual significance, the better video representation on the Criterion Blu-ray is much welcome and needed.

Criterion also offers DTS HD-MA 2.0 surround tracks for the three films, but you may need to do a bit of funky adjustments to get them to work. Note that these are 2.0, not 5.1 tracks. Criterion expects you to use Pro Logic Surround decoding on your audio receiver to turn the 2.0 tracks into surround tracks. However, older receivers, like mine, may not be able to apply Pro Logic to DTS audio. So what I did was I had my Blu-ray player first convert the DTS audio into PCM multi-channel audio and pass it to my receiver, and then I was able to apply Pro Logic to the PCM audio. To compound matters, the WHITE disc's surround audio was encoded incorrectly, yielding 1.0 mono after applying Pro Logic. Criterion is currently fixing this problem, and will offer a replacement in December to those who already bought the set. Contact Criterion's point man Jon Mulvaney ( [e-mail] ) regarding the replacement. On the BLUE and RED discs, the surround tracks do work, and with much higher bit rate they do sound better than the surround tracks on the Buena Vista discs.

The fully-loaded Criterion set contains several new supplements, but is also missing a quite a few extras on the Buena Vista set.

Bad news first. The wonderful full-length audio commentaries by film professor Annette Insdorf on the Buena Vista set are gone. Also gone are most of the interviews done by MK2 (producer Marin Karmitz's company) in 2001, with actresses Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy, and Irene Jacob, editor Jacques Witta (for BLUE), and Karmitz (for BLUE and WHITE). Most of the MK2 featurettes are also gone: "A Discussion on Kieslowski's Later Years", "A Discussion on Working with Kieslowski", "Behind the Scenes of White with Kieslowski", and "Behind the Scenes of Red with Kieslowski". Selected scenes commentaries by Delpy and Jacob are also gone. Also noticeably missing are two student films by Kieslowski: "Concert of Wishes" and "The Office". All these valuable video and audio extras are NOT on the Criterion set. Needless to say, those who have the Buena Vista set should probably hold on to it.

The Criterion set does retain some of the old extras. It does have several of the MK2 featurettes: "Kieslowski's Early Years", "Reflections on BLUE" (featuring the cast and crew, Insdorf, film critic Geoff Andrew, and film director Agnieszka Holland), Marin Karmitz's interview for RED, and Jacques Witta's interview for RED. It has Binoche's selected scenes commentary for BLUE. All the wonderful "cinema lessons" by Kieslowski are also retained. The footage of Kieslowski announcing his retirement at Cannes also, thankfully, survived the cut. Also retained are two of Kieslowski's student films, "The Tram" and "The Face", although the picture quality of "The Tram" is noticeably worse than that on the Buena Vista DVD, with more print damage and a much darker picture.

The all-new extras offered by Criterion are all excellent. Each film comes with a 22-minute "video essay", done by Insdorf for BLUE, film critic Tony Rayns for WHITE, and film writer Dennis Lim for RED. These segments are essentially audio commentaries with film clips and stills. While they are well-written and informative, they seem a little too terse, due to their short lengths, compared to Insdorf's full-length commentaries for the Buena Vista DVDs.

There are new interviews with composer Zbigniew Preisner, actors Delpy, Jacob, and Zbigniew Zamachowski, and screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz. Criterion usually does great interviews, and these are no exception. They are all more in-depth and comprehensive than their MK2 counterparts. They were all shot in 2011. Ten years after they were interviewed by MK2, their enthusiasm and admiration for Kieslowski's work are apparently unchanged.

There are also three wonderful documentaries not on the Buena Vista set. The 16-minute "Seven Women of Different Ages" (1978) shows seven ballet dancers in each day of the week, from a little ballerina to an old ballet teacher, subtly depicting the journey of a dancer and of life itself. "Talking Heads" (1980), running 12 minutes, interviews several people in the order of their ages about who they are and what they want to be; it brings to mind Michael Apted's UP documentaries. And there is a 1-hour documentary made for Danish TV in 1995 called "Krzysztof Kieslowski: I'm So-So", where the just-retired director reminisces about his career, from his early films to his later masterpieces, and we hear many of his pessimistic views about art, life, and politics. He concludes the film by saying, "To know is not my job. Not knowing is."

The Criterion set also offers a fairly substantial 75-page booklet that includes a 18-page excerpt from the book "Kieslowski on Kieslowski" as well as interviews of the three cinematographers of THREE COLORS. The last page of the booklet also mentions the fact that Pro Logic is needed to hear surround sound, as I mentioned above.

Yes, this Criterion Blu-ray edition is a pricey set, and, unlike the Buena Vista edition, the three films are not sold separately. But the strength of the video and audio qualities and the comprehensive supplements still make this a worthy purchase. Read more ›

98 of 106 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the greatest cinematic experiences of the 1990s January 13, 2003

By Ed N

Format:DVD

The Three Colors Trilogy comprises 3 superb films (Bleu/Blanc/Rouge) by the late, great director Krzysztof Kieslowski. The films use the symbolism expressed by the colors of the French flag for their themes (liberty, equality, fraternity). The Three Colors is Kieslowski's crowning achievement, and Rouge, his final film, is probably his masterpiece. That's saying something, because some of his previous films (Decalogue, The Double Life of Veronique) are among the greatest films of the last 20 years! I saw Bleu (with Juliette Binoche) a long time ago and was very impressed. It's a sad but beautful movie, about a composer's widow and how she copes with life after his death. Blanc (with Julie Delpy) is about life for a man after he is unceremoniously dumped by his wife; it's the lightest and most comedic of the three films. Rouge (with Irene Jacob) is my favorite and explores the melancholy (and platonic) relationship that develops between a young lady and an older man. Jacob is quite simply a goddess, and if you can tear your eyes away from her long enough to pay attention to the movie, you'll find this is a thematically rich film with solid, subtle performances (Kieslowski was nominated for a Best Director Oscar for Rouge in 1995). I am lucky enough to own a DVD of Rouge which has a ton of extras (making of, deleted scenes, soundtrack samples, trailers, film-making lesson by the director, Cannes festival interviews, extended interviews with editor, director, and *sigh* Irene Jacob). I believe the upcoming Miramax DVDs retain these features (with subtitles), which are in French. More Americans should experience these films. They are so well-made and lovingly crafted that they put to shame all the multi-million dollar, shallow, explosion-fests routinely shovelled out by Hollywood nowadays.... Next to Stanley Kubrick and Akira Kurosawa, Krzysztof Kieslowski's death in the 1990s is one of the most tragic for cinema. Younger filmmakers should hope one day to approach even an iota of the MANY brilliant masterpieces created of these film masters. Watch The Three Colors Trilogy! This is film-making at its finest and totally a 5 STAR recommendation! Read more ›