Three Colors: White (1994)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The most underappreciated film of the Krzysztof Kieslowski's famous trilogy, White is the most direct, simplest, bitterest but also precise and very satisfying. This is one smart movie, and if you are interested in the subject of justice, equality, then it is a must see. The movie has aged well and is perhaps the best one to start with if you want to watch his movies.

I did not know of these films. I'm late to the party. Also, I've viewed them out of sequence. It doesn't matter. What an experience! This one is about true love. The poor Polish schmuck is being divorced by his beautiful young wife because he has been unable to consummate he marriage. We do wonder why that is, but it could well be a medical condition. He is not give a chance. As a matter of fact, she takes everything from him without a bit of compassion, leaving him sitting on a steamer trunk in a Paris street. He manages to meet his savior, a complex to man who seems to have many secrets. With his help, he manages to accumulate great wealth. I won't go into the details other than he never stops loving the woman, no matter what. Granted, his intentions are not the best, but they make for a delicate balance between freedom and revenge. Karol has lost his freedom through no fault of his own and we hang on to see how this manifests itself. The closing scene is full of hope and resolution. One of the most interesting characters in all of moviedom.

So much potential wasted, slowly.The second movie in Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors trilogy. Each movie is separate and doesn't feature characters from the previous one(s) (except at the end of Red, but it made no difference to the story and was essentially Kieslowski showing off).The first, Blue, was engaging and mostly reasonably interesting. Doesn't end very well, but getting to the end was an interesting journey.White, however, doesn't have that same level of engagement or interest. Starts off okay, develops slowly and without a sense of direction, then all of a sudden you have some fairly bizarre and implausible twists. Then it ends. Even more unsatisfactory ending than Blue.Red is marginally better. Turns out that Blue was the best of the bunch after all.

The story was nice but lacks a tight grip and feels unbelievable at times. The weakest point however, in my opinion, is the characters. Karol was nice but I couldn't understand his motives completely and couldn't sympathize with him. As for Dominique, there was not enough character development to understand better who she is. White felt less arty. It does have the camera concentration on object and the returning motive of recycling tin, but not as noticeable. Instead it had a richer plot and slightly more characters. White was never boring, but I didn't have any excitement watching it. The ending left me puzzled as to what Karol wanted to achieve.In summary: above average, but not exciting. When comparing to the other two, it looks like an estranged sibling.