This section of the film is all about the man in the red Jeep, aka the young judge, and as we will soon discover, Auguste. It’s funny how Kieslowski withholds the names of characters for so long at times. It makes things especially difficult for me because I have such trouble remembering names. I’m constantly having to check back to previous essays to remember even the lead characters of each piece.

It begins with Auguste on the phone, calling his meteorologist girlfriend, or former girlfriend, even though he doesn’t know it yet. She doesn’t pick up, but he senses something is off. So he prepares to stake her out. And being a European male, he doesn’t go to a stakeout in casual dark clothing, he puts on dress shoes and a blazer, because of course he does. He gets in his red Jeep and takes off.

Actually, he drives like a lunatic. He makes a u-turn on a sidewalk (the camera briefly enters the cafe to show the bad luck three cherries on the slot machine again) and then he cuts off another car while making a turn. He makes the familiar journey up the twisting street on the hill — the same path to Joseph’s house — and we see him go by the judge’s house. As he does, we see Joseph look out the window. He may be done with electronic surveillance but he’s still a nosy old man.

Auguste arrives at her aparment. We see the name Bernice Meyer on the door. He listens in and thinks of knocking, but decides instead to snoop through her third story window., because it isn’t a Kieslowski story without a peeping Tom.

It’s at night, but he’s seemingly unconcerned about anyone seeing him. He pulls up a garbage container and climbs up on it, which allows him to get to a ledge on the second floor. There he shimmies across going to his right one step at a time. This is shown to us in a long shot, with a beautiful palette of pale green on the first floor, creamsickle orange on the second. He gets to a trellis and slips at first, then climbs up to the third floor.

The music is very interesting in this segment, it has elements of Preisner’s Tango heavy score for White, then a brief hint of the European unification symphony in Blue. I suppose it’s his way of saying that romantic betrayal is the one story line that ties all of the Three Colours films together.

First he looks in her office and sees a computer with a satellite weather map … then he slides over to the next window to see her in the act with a man on top. I think this is the closest we get in Kieslowski’s body of work to an explicit sex scene, but he cuts away from it quickly. We aren’t shown how Auguste finds his way back down.

The next thing we see, it’s now daytime, but the Jeep still has its lights on as it pulls up to his apartment. Auguste just sits for a moment. Meanwhile, Valentine is on the phone with her idiot boyfriend, telling him the logistics of her trip. He asks why she’s taking the ferry, she tells him it’s so she can stop by her mother in Calais on the way. She asks him if he loves her, he replies “I think so.” She takes issue with this response … but the call ends. She goes to the window and notices Auguste in his car. She looks just briefly, then walks into the kitchen to make coffee.

Because she walked away, she misses Auguste leaving the car looking clearly distressed, moping across the street. He then collapses on his bed and his cute black dog — which has been left alone all night — jumps up to greet him. He cruelly pushes the dog away. I generally like this character and empathize with what he’s going through, but there’s no excuse for this.

Valentine returns to the window and looks out, noticing that the Jeep’s car lights are still on and the battery is draining.

Auguste now finds the new lovers at a restaurant drinking wine. The guy shows Bernice pictures of a yacht. Since no good person owns a boat, in my biased opinion, this tracks. Auguste tries to knock to get their attention, without success. Finally he uses the Mont Blanc pen, which makes both of their heads turn. He runs off. Bernice does run into the street to find him and calls his name — Auguste! — but he stays hidden. He wanted her to know, but isn’t inclined to confront her.

There’s only about 20 minutes left in the film, which I will likely wrap up in three more essays. The Kieslowski moral universe project is nearing its conclusion.