The Double Life of Véronique (Krzysztof Kieslowski director & Slawomir Idziak cinematographer, 1991)
Unnecessary sidenote:
This rambling is based on a true story.After you watch enough movies you start to get a rough idea of what you prefer. What style, what genre... even what actors and directors. I used to let this guide my decisions, with the idea that if I followed my nose I'd usually enjoy myself. And to that end, it worked. My DVD collection grew to more than a hundred strong, and only films that I considered truly great made the cut. Then I came to the Filmspotting forums. I saw that people were enjoying all sorts of films that I never would've considered watching. Some I had never even heard of. What's more, they were enjoying these films with infectious enthusiasm! It wasn't long before I had abandoned much of my well honed intuition, in the hopes I too would love these films.
My arrival at the forums coincided with another hugely influential event in my film watching life. The discovery of movies by mail. The forums may have put a sock in the mouth of my intuition, but my subscription to Netflix took it outside and killed it. No longer did I walk through a video store, choosing carefully the one movie on which my entire weekend's enjoyment hinged. Now I simply added to my queue anything and everything. If there was even a hint of a chance I could enjoy a film, I'd add it. I started adding directors' entire filmographies to my queue without so much as a glance at the plot or actors involved, just because I'd seen one of their movies and liked it. I told myself that particular tastes didn't matter, and that open mindedness was a more worthy virtue. I didn't know I was a bourbon drinker until I drank some bourbon, so why should movies be any different.
The rate at which I watched movies went up fivefold. This blinded me to the fact that my once stellar track record of picking winners had begun to decline, steeply. I think I convinced myself that there was value in seeing as many films as possible. It may even have been a point of pride. Luckily, it did eventually occur to me that I wasn't enjoying films like I used to. Though I was watching more films than ever before, my passion for them seemed to have evaporated. I couldn't deny it. I used to lovingly explore a dvd's extra content, and listen to the commentary tracks. Now I just hurriedly packed them up and tossed them in the mailbox.
I realized I'm a film lover, not a film critic. It's not my job to see everything. I still allow a small amount of outside influence in what I watch (the Bracket and MDC), but generally speaking I've reverted to watching only those films that I would pick up off the video store shelf. I've purged my netflix queue of anything that doesn't fall into that category. Lessons learned. Listen to your intuition. Time is too precious to watch just anything. You're more likely to enjoy a movie you've pick yourself than one recommended. It's a test of your taste in film. You'll be much more invested in proving yourself right than proving somebody else right. You don't want to be responsible for picking a bad movie, so you make sure you give it your full attention and it gets every benefit of the doubt.
Anyways, that's my story. I dunno why, but I felt compelled to tell it just now.
Actual Review:The Double Life of Véronique is a floaty and cryptic film. Two identical looking women who have never met share an unknown bond. One lives in Poland, the other Paris. The film never explains
what this link between them is, but it shows us the effects it has. For instance in one scene, when one woman feels pain so too does the other. Kind of like the enigmatic connection that you often hear existing between twins. It's an interesting aspect of the film that I would've liked to see develop into something more conclusive. Kieslowski though seemed to be content to leave it alone. By the end of the film it's meaning was really no less ambiguous to me than it was at the beginning.
I usually favour films with clear, strong narratives (among other things), so TDLOV may not have been the best movie for me in that regard. It's very much open to interpretation. It's not so much a story as it is a poem. One is told, the other read... if that makes any kind of sense. It's this openness that was probably the greatest stumbling block for me. I watched intently and tried to piece together something definite, something I could be certain about. Looking back, this probably wasn't the ideal approach. I'm not sure I can help it though. I tend listen to what the art has to say to me rather than consider what I have to say about the art.
Sam wrote
an excellent review which I think really nails this film. Well worth a read if you want a better idea of what the film is.
For me it wasn't a perfect match, but it is a beautiful film to behold. I give it full marks on that front.
Thanks for the assignment Sam. Hopefully my lackluster reaction wasn't too disappointing.