Kieslowski

This is a good time in the story to introduce my theory of “Three Colours: White” — actually, two different theories. The first is that, while Kieslowski officially calls Blue, White, Red a trilogy, there is a single moral universe that binds The Dekalog, The Double Life of Veronique and the

As I understand the Yiddish terms, a Schlemiel is a bumbler, someone who creates his own bad luck, while a Schlimazel is someone who has bad luck dumped upon him regularly (perhaps by the Schlemiel.) In this scene, Karol reveals himself as a Schlemiel. Instead of taking the visual evidence

We get a brief respite from the brutality inflicted on Karol Karol in an unlikely location — the Paris Metro underground. Karol has taken the comb, symbol of his profession, and turned it into a crude musical instrument akin to a kazoo. He’s trying to busk for some quick cash

At 1 a.m. Chicago time, this blog received a ping from Sao Paolo, Brazil from an iPhone that hasn’t yet updated to iOS 26. The ping was 0 seconds, so it was not someone interested in reading, just signaling. Or perhaps accidentally visiting, who knows? The ping was

I don’t enjoy this part of “Three Colours: White” and also don’t understand people who do. I don’t like watching people inflict cruelty on others or to watch people suffer. What happens in these scenes isn’t funny to me, it’s just mean and unnecessary. The

The second film of the Three Colours trilogy is built around the French democratic concept of egalite — or equality. Kieslowski in interviews argued that as much as we talk about equality, no one actually wants it. We always desire to prove ourselves better than others, and often this takes the