Identity and fate
Who are we? Why?
The Double Life of Veronique
Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski
1991
Something about this film had haunted me since the first time I saw it, all by myself in an empty little theater. I left feeling profoundly (existentially?) uneasy. Is there someone out there with my face, living a life similar to my own, but not making the same mistakes I had? Someone who is me, but is not me? It's enough to put your head on a permanent merry-go-round of confusion.
Such is the appeal (if that's your cup of tea) of the "Double Life of Veronique" (1991) which I happen to think is one fantastic movie. This recommendation does come with a qualification: you should know going in that you're going to be left trying to figure out what's going on all by your lonesome. Directed by Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski, the film defies easy explanation: he's crafted a mystery, but one without a solution. He resists tying things up with a nice, tight bow. It is as if he is saying that he's shown you all the clues, now find the answers in your own life and experiences. If you're up for the journey, be prepared for an enigmatic, dreamy meditation that will keep you guessing (and thinking) long after.
"All my life, I felt like I was here and somewhere else at the same time..." In 1966, a young Polish girl, Veronika is born; In 1966, a young French girl, Veronique, is born. Although they've never met each other (and, in fact, never meet) they are connected in some indefinable way. They look like the same woman (both played by actress Irene Jacob), but they are not.
We get to know Veronika first: she seems filled with boundless excitement and a curiosity for life. Something's always sustained her, a feeling that she's not alone in the world. We see her singing with her choir, so overcome with fervor for the music that she ignores a sudden rain storm that pops up. It's a heady time in Poland, soon after the fall of Communism (we see a large statue of Lenin being carted away) and Veronika seems a kind of representation of that intoxicating feeling of new-found freedom.
But ominous things happen that seem to foreshadow trouble: Veronika's sick aunt talks about the women in their family dying young; Veronika experiences troubling heart pains that leave her breathless; and for a fleeting moment, she sees her double, riding on a tour bus, an event for which she has no explanation. These sinister moments bear fruit when Veronika collapses during a performance with her music school and dies (as if her passion was too great for her weak heart and it just gave out).
An unspecified period of time passes and the story picks up with Veronique: she's a music teacher, and she sensed something that she can't explain at the moment of Veronika's passing ("I felt suddenly alone.") She receives mysterious packages in the mail: a piece of string (which we saw Veronika using to tie together her music case) and a cassette tape (filled with city sounds and scattered pieces of the music Veronika was singing when she died). Veronique thinks they may have something to do with a mysterious children's book author and puppeteer: does he have some insight into the connection between Veronika and Veronique?
Kieslowski seems to be presenting a set of clues for a mystery. "Look" says the disembodied voice of Veronique's mother at the start of the movie to her young daughter (Veronique is appropriately looking at a leaf through a magnifying glass). In the commentary by Annette Insdorf in the Criterion version of the film, she posits that Kiesloski intends that to be an imperative for the audience as well: look closely because we're exploring metaphysical questions of duality and fate, ideas that are beyond what we can see and feel and touch.
It is a delicate balance that would completely fall apart if director Kieslowski had chosen the wrong actress. The role calls for someone with whom we can instantly sympathize. Luckily, he settled on Swiss actress Irene Jacob who is sensuous, passionate, and also that overused word oh-so often describing young actresses, luminous. She's able to create two different characters through subtle changes in expression and movement. Veronika, as the more passionate, free spirited girl, has more expressive body language. Veronique is more guarded and careful, yet still whimsical and dreamy.
So what is this movie all about? My theory is that the girls live parallel lives that somehow inform and instruct each other. Veronika is a free spirit who lives with more abandon than Veronique, but ignores the warning signs that she is in danger. In a way that she that she cannot comprehend, Veronique learns from the mistakes of her "double" and is able to tread a more even path.
That's just my opinion, though. I leave it up to you find your own explanation for the mystery at the center of "The Double Life of Veronique." Somehow, that seems the way it should be.
No comments have been posted to this article.
Want to post a comment to this article? Click here.
|
