Leave it to Krzysztof Kieslowski to explore the theme of togetherness by introducing us to characters who spend all of their time alone. The film slowly unfurls its story in front of you in a very satisfying fashion. Very naturally and organically we learn about the characters as their relationships develop. I found it interesting, the way in which the younger character’s lives mirrored the judge’s, or at least what the judge tells us was his life, but I don’t know if it was really pulled off well enough to hit me emotionally. Or at least affect me in a deeper way than nodding my head in acknowledgement at the connections the narrative was forming between the characters. Despite that, Kieslowski really knows how to use the camera to tell a story in a way that no medium other than film can, and the visuals alone make this one worth watching. Irene Jacob and Jean-Louis Trintignant have an amazing chemistry despite the difference in their ages, and their interactions anchor this film and elevate it into being something special. If this entire movie was just their characters having conversations I probably would have completely loved it, they were that good together. I’d always heard that Red was the strongest of the Three Colors Trilogy, but I think I responded to it the least. Still, that’s not exactly an insult. The artistry of the crafting and the performance of the two leads make it well worth watching, even if all the stuff about parallel lives and fated encounters didn’t really work for me as well as it has for many film historians.
