La double vie de Véronique (1991)

Director:

Krzysztof Kieslowski

Writers:

Krzysztof Kieslowski (writer) &
Krzysztof Piesiewicz (writer)

Release Date:

22 November 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Music | Romance

Tagline:

Each of us is matched somewhere in the world, by our exact double - someone who shares our thoughts and dreams

Plot:

Veronika lives in Poland. Veronique lives in Paris. They don't know each other. Veronika gets a place in a music school...

Plot Keywords:

Singer | Protest March | Choir | Avant Garde | Female Nudity

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 8 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Irène Jacob	...	Weronika / Véronique
Halina Gryglaszewska	...	La Tante
Kalina Jedrusik	...	La femme barjolée
Aleksander Bardini	...	Le chef d'orchestre / Conductor
Wladyslaw Kowalski	...	Le père de Weronika / Weronika's father
Jerzy Gudejko	...	Antek
Janusz Sterninski	...	L'avocat / Lawyer (as Jan Sterninski)
Philippe Volter	...	Alexandre Fabbri
Sandrine Dumas	...	Catherine
Louis Ducreux	...	Le professeur / Professor
Claude Duneton	...	Le père de Véronique / Father of Véronique
Lorraine Evanoff	...	Claude
Guillaume de Tonquedec	...	Serge
Gilles Gaston-Dreyfus	...	Jean-Pierre
Alain Frérot	...	Le facteur / Postman

Also Known As:

The Double Life of Veronique (UK) (USA)
Podwójne życie Weroniki (Poland)
Podwojne zycie Weroniki (Poland)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

France | Poland | Norway

Language:

French | Polish | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:L | Hong Kong:IIB | Singapore:M18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:S | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R | South Korea:18 | Germany:12 (f)

Filming Locations:

Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dôme, France

Company:

Sidéral Productions

Trivia:

Kieslowski originally wanted Andie MacDowell to play Veronique.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Weronika is at the window of the bus, she holds some papers up to Antek, who is on a motorcycle. The angle she's holding the papers at alternates from perfectly straight to slightly askew as the shot alternates repeatedly from back to front.

Quotes:

Weronika: What else do you want to know about me?
Antek: Everything
Weronika: [picks up her purse and gently dumps the contents on the bed in front of him]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Trois couleurs: Rouge (1994)

Soundtrack:

Verso il cielo

Divine

Probably the best film of the decade. These are some keywords I think best suit this film: Religious, Fatherhood, Duplicity, Fullness, Sensuality, Offbeat

Due to the blasphemous american rants below (I can´t imagine a single movie from the USA in the 90s better than this one, sorry for that), I decided to write about this peculiar film. I think the film is more accessible for european viewers, the same way Dawn by law might be for american viewers (I can´t bear that pretentious american underground movies at all, with cool men swearing all the time, trying to be funny... I can´t identify with most of nineties american characters). There are many american art house films buffs as well, so I can´t say this is a general fact, it´s just my view anyway.

Regarding the development of the characters, Tsylia probably couldn´t understand at the beginning of the film how both women are described so poeticly. Weronicka is watching at the stars, while Veronique is watching the leaves fall. I see this is not evident but it says a lot about the two. Weronicka is more spiritual, magical, and Veronique is more practical, more "down to earth". If you cannot see the metaphores throughout the film you will not grasp anything about the development of the characters, that´s for sure. Furthermore, Irene Jacob performance is sublime, you can see on her face so many "difficult to express" sensations, she´s not just a beautiful face as it has been stated below (I can name hundreds of pretty american girls on stupid films, I was shocked to read Irene Jacob is just pretty, couldn´t these people see she´s a valuable actress as well). In any case she´s pretty in the sense Catherine Deneuve is, I mean she´s not the common beatiful woman, you can see by his gestures that she feels alone in the world, that she feels the fullness of life, ... She sometimes seems like an angel in this film (Weronicka).

I´m an atheist, but I admit the religious or spiritual feeling of the film engages anyone. The film evokes the idea that gifted people such this soprano singer have a spare part somewhere in the world, the same way the puppetier has a spare marionette for the one he uses most.

God is not mentioned but the scenes are revealing: Veronique caresses the bark of a thick tree in the very last scene, which could signify her real father as well, or just the idea of fatherhood.

The music is ten out of ten, if you feel nothing while listening to Preisner´s masterpiece, you´d better not say you´re sensitive anymore. This is his best for me alongside with the music for Short story of a killing and Damage soundtrack which sounds cruel and mysterious to me.

I can´t think of any other film more precious and lyrical than this one.