THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE (La Double
Vie de Veronique)
POLISH/FRANCE 1991
There aren't many films which have a story that will just blow your mind away.
Do I have to repeat that.?
There aren't many films which have a story that will just blow your mind away.
The problem with psychic stories, is that the people involved are very near the
edge of insanity, because no one can explain, or help them figure out what is it
that they are , either, seeing, feeling, or living. Somehow, there is a
difference, and it is important that on a deep level, the person become
satisfied with the answers to those feelings, or their life will degenerate
quickly into tragedy and misery, a favorite theme for many religious groups,
when they can not define the psychic stuff, and instead use an allegory, or
biblical passage, to state "I told you so."
Amidst the sheer beauty, and love, in this film, is the sad affair of a 'double'
birth, and double 'life' , until one of those involved dies near the age of
eighteen, and leaves the 'other' totally alone, insecure, and unable to figure
out what is going on in her life. Unlike Nicholas Roeg's film on premonitions of
death (Don't Look Now), this film tries to help the girl along, until she can
help herself, and eventually solve the whole thing.
And fortunately, it is solved positively, and in a manner which gives not only
hope to the feelings, but also to the visions, dreams, and in various other
forms, which are at the hub of the wheel of life, the miracle of existence, if
you will. And we have, as humans, a tendency to dismiss these things in favor of
social rationale.
This film starts with two incidents of a child being told a story about the
stars, by a loving grandmother (or a mother) in Poland. At the same moment
another child, exactly the same age, is being told a little story about the life
of plants, and the spirit of life (also by an invisible mother). The two girls
grow up being fond of music. The polish girl is a superb singer, and ends up
doing a recital for an over filled hall, when they get to hear her dreamy and
inspiring voice. The girl, while practicing, and in the first time we see her
with a church choir, has occasional blackouts, which last momentarily. She
always manages to continue, as if an inner voice is carrying her, which is the
idea we get.
In her first recital, she dies of a heart attack. Cut to France. The 'parallel'
girl, who talks of always having a close invisible friend, is in the midst of a
love scene with her boyfriend. As she reaches her climax in a slightly detached
mood, the 'other' is dying. ( In French, 'le petit denouement' is the equivalent
definition of orgasm, which means 'the little death'). And she feels this. The
boyfriend is told to leave and she sits there crying. She can see a few things,
she can feel a few things, but can't identify them.
The rest of the film is her attempt at figuring out what is happening. And she
gets her first clue, at the school where she teaches music to young children.
She takes her time with the children, and helps correct the mistakes. Prior to
that class, the whole school gets the chance to see a puppeteer do his thing. He
tells the story (no words) of a ballerina who dances divinely, and falls, and
dies. After she dies on stage, her body rises, and it turns into the body of an
angel with a beautiful little pair of wings, that help her fly away.
She tries to find the puppeteer. In the meantime, she is receiving unusual gifts
in the mail. Shoelaces from a ballerina's shoe. And later a tape, with a
sequence of sound effects that leads her to where he is, awaiting her. Just
before this, she visits her father, from whom she is trying to piece things
together. He talks of how the mother used to go on walks with her and tell
stories. And how he held her hand afterwards. And general little bits which are
slowly filling up the gaps which she, and us, have. Eventually, she accepts the
puppeteer, after rejecting him (I wanted to see if it could be done,
psychologically, I mean' -- an obvious reference to the fact that he had deeper
feelings for her than she knew, or she was the vision which defined his story.
He writes children's stories, and wants to write a REAL story.) and she now
begins to see the other pieces fall into place.
The real kicker is when she walks in to his little wood shop, where he is making
two new dolls for his new story. They are in her image, and she asks why two
dolls, and he replies, he always has two, because they break easily on the
stage. She's is also at a danger point of breaking. He says, he has it figured
out, and starts telling the story he has just written down. The were two little
girls, born at exactly the same time, in two different places, Krakow and Paris.
....He's telling her real story. The very story she has been living, feeling and
trying to put her fingers on!
There is a scene in the early parts of the film from the point of view of the
polish girl, who on the way home from the conservatory, after being bumped off,
and getting her sheet music spread out on the street, and having picked it up,
she notices a girl entering a bus, that looks exactly like her. This girl is
taking pictures of the '68 riots in Krakow and the whole area in general. At the
end of the film, the puppeteer tells her he wants to know every thing about her.
She picks up her small backpack and dumps it onto the bed. Amidst the rubble, is
a set of contact sheets (proofs) of photographs taken on a trip. He asks where.
She says through the east,.... and Krakow. He shows her a picture of the girl
that looks just like her.
The film doesn't say it at that moment, but she goes over to her father's to
explain to him what she had started feeling before. To finish the story which
she had started telling him, which was that she felt split, and that a part of
her had disappeared.
All I can say is WOW ... and think, that I have not seen too many films that are
so strong and so with it, about such an important subject matter. With the
incredible chorale music of Zbigniew Preisner, all over the film, this sucker
shines, on all levels, where most films are afraid to tread. The subject is
difficult to tackle, because it can lead to much confusion and to total madness
and insanity. Likewise, a false move, would render the story absurd, and totally
unlikely. It is a really beautiful story, that really has the credo written all
over it, which the Christians believe but don't follow about the father and his
will. The father in this picture is so lovely and helpful it is almost a double
entendre.
The direction of this film is impeccable, and the musical sequences sound so
much like the music of the spheres, and its dreamy qualities.
It isn't a film for everybody, because it will blow away the fearful ones. But
if you are a true believer in soul, and spirit, this is a must film to see.
There are only but a handful of films that have EVER dealt with those kinds of
situations, and done them positively to help alleviate people of a lot of
internal anxieties. This is the best of them. Don't miss it, this is not a film.
This is pure SPIRIT work at its best.
GOTTA SEE IT TO BELIEVE IT. That's how good it is.
5 GIBLOONS
DIRECTOR: KRZYSZTOF KIESLOWSKI
Written by Krzysztof Kieslowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz
Cinematography by Slawomir Idziak
MUSIC: ZBIGNIEW PREISNER
With: Irene Jacob (in a dual role and winner for Best Actress Award in Cannes
1991), Philippe Volter, Sandrine Dumas, Aleksander Bardini, Louis Ducreux,
Claude Duneton
ONE WORD: Astounding story and work. Truly a magical film.
Please email me with questions and/or comments
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