Trois couleurs: Blanc (1994) - film review

Karol, a Polish hairdresser living in Paris, is divorced by his wife for failing to consummate their marriage.  When the embittered wife burns down his hairdressing salon and frames him for arson, Karol is forced to return to his native Poland.  Penniless and emotionally scarred, Karol is still overwhelmed by his love for his wife and he contrives a fantastic scheme to get even with her...

The second film in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s acclaimed Bleu-Blanc-Rrouge trilogy explores the theme of égalité (equality), but from an unusual, almost cynical perspective.  The equality which underpins the plot in this film is that between a strong Parisian woman and her weak, apparently impotent husband.

Equality is a noble ideal, but unattainable in any free society.  The strong will always exploit others for personal gain, and the only tangible form of equality in such a world is revenge.  Thus, Karol, the film’s central character, is faced with an impossible dilemma – to win back his wife’s esteem, he must return the humiliation she earlier subjected him to.

Lacking the visual mastery of Bleu and the dramatic intensity of Rouge, Blanc is the weakest film of the trilogy, but it works well as a film in its own right, for a number of reasons.

First, there is a touching tragicomic performance by Zbigniew Zamachowski, playing Karol, who captures our attention (and our sympathies) from the very first scene.  His subdued, humble performance gives Blanc its realism and humanity (in strong contrast to the artificial coldness seen in Bleu).

Then there is the eloquent photography, more earthy and subdued than in the other two films in the trilogy, but with a unique poetry its own.  The film manages to capture the bleakness of Poland, reflecting Kieslowski’s own pessimism about his own country.

Another feature which distinguishes Blanc is its curious blending of comedy and drama.  The comedy is completely unexpected yet it feels so appropriate, giving the film a dangerous sense of unpredictability as it teeters on the dividing line between farce and tragedy.

There are others ways in which Blanc shows a marked difference from Bleu and Rouge.  Most visibly, the film’s dialogue is predominantly in Polish, not French, most of the cast is Polish, and the greater part of the film was shot in Poland.   As a consequence, the film has a more personal feel than the other two, which, despite being better films, have a strange sense of detachment.

Blanc, like Bleu, is, however, let down by its ending.  It offers only a partial resolution, an unsatisfying ephemeral moment of victory for Karol, not a convincing solution to his marital problems.  To see how the story should have ended, the spectator has to watch Rouge, the third and final film in the trilogy.

There are also tenuous links to Bleu in this film.  Near the start of Blanc , Juliette Binoche wanders briefly into shot in the background, and the old woman trying to get a bottle into a bottlebank makes another appearance.  Such links illustrate Kieslowski’s belief in the power of subliminal messages to reinforce the dramatic impact of later developments in his films.

© James Travers 2000

See also:
Trois Couleurs: Bleu
Trois Couleurs: Rouge

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