Chapter 5 Part Two: The Double Life of Veronica (1～5)

The Double Life of 2D Ronica On every level, The Double Life of Veronica (1991) is a great reflexive film.Reflections of glass abound throughout the film, and it seems fitting for this story about two young girls living parallel lives in contemporary Poland and France.Like much of Kieslowski's previous work, this is a film that engages in self-conscious thinking about the two acts of "seeing" and "telling a story"—in other words, "making a film."This French-Polish co-production invites viewers to reflect on the threads that bind each of us to the forces that surround us.Producer Leonardo de la Fuente (Leonardo de la Fuente) hit the nail on the head and described the film as "a metaphysical thriller", and the script of the film is also written by him and Krzysztof. Co-author of Piecivic.Kieslowski's previous collaborators, including cinematographer Slawomir Iziak and composer Pressner, were involved in "The Double Life of Veronica": A visual effect soaked in gold, which successfully strings the two heroines together with gorgeous music.

Both heroines are played by newcomer Irene Jacob, who learned Polish just for the film and won Best Actress at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.Kieslowski had hoped to cast Andie MacDowell for the role — he admired her performance in "Sex, Lies, Videotape," Soderbergh's The film participated in the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, and Kieslowski was one of the judges of that session.Ultimately, though, he realized that a European actress might be more convincing in the role.Irene Jacob, who is of French and Swiss descent, had previously played the piano teacher in Louis Malle's "Farewell to the Children", and had a few roles.Coincidentally, "Goodbye Children" is also a film that Kieslowski loves very much.During one lecture, he asked the following students how many of them remembered the young girl who had appeared in "Goodbye, Children."Most of the students raised their hands, and he understood that she had managed to impress the audience despite being on stage for less than two minutes.Like many other French actresses, Irene was also invited to audition. Kieslowski was not only impressed by her acting skills, but also deeply touched by her unique shyness. "It's rare to see someone so shy and reserved in this industry," he said. [1]

Veronica from Poland is a girl who loves to sing. Her mother has died, and she usually lives with her father (played by Wladyslav Kowalski, who also played the father in "The Ten Commandments, Seven").She came to Krakow to participate in a singing competition, and won the chance to sing a composition written by van den Budenmeyer (the composer mentioned in Ten Commandments, Nine, but actually Pressner himself).She proudly took part in the show, although at this point she was already feeling a slight heart discomfort.In the middle of the concert, Veronica suddenly fell to the ground and died.

In Clermont-Ferrand, French Veronica suddenly decides to abandon her singing career without warning.Her heart is also not very good. After leaving the stage, she devoted all her energy to the music lessons she gave to the students.At school, she is attracted to the puppeteer and children's author Alexandre Fabri (Philippe Fortey).In his puppet show, the protagonist is a ballerina, and the exquisite puppet dances gorgeous dance steps in his hands, then suddenly falls, and finally turns into a butterfly.Veronica received a mysterious phone call, and she heard the voice of Polish Veronica singing Van den Budenmeyer's works in the microphone, and then she received two mysterious packages: one with a shoelace, The other contained a cassette of sounds that seemed to be taken from a train station.She followed these clues to the Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris, where Alexandre was indeed waiting for her.

He told Veronica that he wondered if it was psychologically possible for a woman to track down "a stranger's phone call."After learning that Alexander is only using her for his next book, Veronica runs away angrily.Alexander found her in a hotel in Paris. He pointed to the photo taken in Krakow in the album and said, "Look at you." Veronica realized that it was not her, and she began to cry. It was at this time, Alexander begins kissing her, channeling her tears into an orgasm; scenes of the pair making love are interspersed with photographs of Veronica Poland, as if she were involved too.At the Alexandria, he told Veronica his new story, about the parallel lives of two women born in 1966.

Why let the puppeteer be the link between these two women?Kieslowski felt he needed something both delicate and mysterious, and he recalled watching an American puppeteer named Bruce Schwartz perform on Japanese television: "He was a man who could perform miracles." , he fiddles with the puppets with his hands, and after three seconds, you forget his hands, because the puppet already has a life of its own." [2] (When Alexander performs a puppet show in the film, what we see is actually exactly Schwartz's hands.) Compared with his previous works, Kieslowski focuses more on a woman in this film, and through a series of subjective shots and close-ups, leads the audience to the This woman has a sense of substitution.The two heroines in this film are clearly evolved versions of Ora from "The Ten Commandments, Nine," who opts for risky heart surgery in order to sing.When French Veronica comes in, she has a premonition that someone very close to her is dead, so we can relate her to characters like the wife in "The Movie Fan" or Hanka in "The Ten Commandments, Nine" Together, they can all have an uncanny sense of trouble happening thousands of miles away.More powerful than Ursula in "Never Stop," there seems to be a delicate thread in the lives of the two heroines in "The Double Life of Veronica" that connects them to the unknown. together.

The opening scene of the film provides a visual key to deciphering "The Double Life of Veronica". In Poland in 1968[3], the dark streets appear upside down in the picture, this is the perspective of two-year-old Veronica from Poland: her mother’s Polish narration sounds, making her stand in the winter night sky near Christmas Eve Find the stars.In the next shot, the little girl's arms are pointing upwards, and her mother holds her in her arms so she can see more.The camera cuts to France in 1968, and the picture is occupied by the eyes of a child: the magnifying glass in front of her is removed, and we find that the act of "seeing" itself has once again become the key to the picture.Her mother's voice-over in French tells her daughter to examine a leaf, and we hear birds chirping.This is in the spring, which shows that the first two scenes of the film do not happen at the same time: the story of the Polish Veronika precedes the story of the French Veronika - perhaps the story of the Polish Veronika also sets the stage for the latter .

Both opening scenes connect a little girl to the vastness of the universe.French Veronique examines the leaves in the opening scene, and there are details of her putting her hand on the tree trunk at the door of her father's house in the ending, which implies that her enthusiastic and cheerful character is actually rooted in her father's love and love for everyone. Awareness of the continuation of the natural vitality.In addition to this visual echo, the director also added a picture of a lot of dead leaves when Veronica in Poland suddenly felt unwell on the street. Although the two mothers in the title did not appear in the screen, they played a guiding role. It was they who gave the daughter a preliminary understanding of the outside world. (However, the voice of the French mother seems to be that of Hélène Jacobs herself, suggesting that this opening scene may be a memory of Veronica growing up.) Both mothers say to their daughters, "Look." Paving the way for Alexander's words later, he became another guide for Veronica in France. "Look." He pointed to Veronica's photo album, which at the same time was a metaphor for her dual existence.The audience tries to revisit the protagonist when the film introduces Veronica for the third time, but Kieslowski continues to question "seeing" itself.When the opening credits came out, the picture of the young woman was distorted, as if a magnifying glass was added in front of the camera.The surroundings of the picture are very blurred, like the beginning of the section "France in 1968".She seemed to be walking on a sunny street when suddenly the music in her hand fell to the ground. (Is this a flash-forward to the scene in Krakow? The Polish Veronica also drops the clip.) The act of "seeing" itself is highlighted again because we are not sure what we see. What exactly is it.

After the opening credits, the adult Polish Veronica finally showed her true colors, and sang enthusiastically outdoors, even if the weather was not beautiful.She looks up, as in the first shot at the beginning of the film. (The last time Veronica Poland looked out, it was in this same air-gazing gesture, at her funeral. Kieslowski chose to shoot from a low-angle, subjective perspective in a glass coffin. ) behind her, other girls took shelter from the rain, but Veronica sang to the last note, welcoming the falling raindrops with a smiling face.Seeing her intimate attitude towards water, we are reminded of her natural relationship with land and air when she was a child.Similarly, in Krakow, the small ball thrown by Veronica stirred up the orange dust falling from the roof, and she looked up happily without dodging, as if she was bathing comfortably in the dust.Her relationship with nature is also reflected in the fire: this not only comes from the golden tone of the whole film[4], but also from her fiery sexiness.In the next scene, she passionately kisses her boyfriend Anteker in the rain, then makes love to him in the apartment.In one rather erotic scene—she's equally open to sensual pleasure—Veronica looks at a large photograph of herself hanging on the wall; In Nika's passionate scene in Paris, photos of Veronika from Poland also appeared, and the two scenes echoed each other.Also, the first time we see French Veronica, she is lying in bed with her boyfriend, and she suddenly gives up on continuing to have sex, as if feeling that someone close to her has died.

Such correspondence exists on many levels, both explicit and implicit.The two heroines are very passionate about their lovers and caring for their fathers, and both have the habit of rubbing their lower eyelashes with rings.They are all left-handed and wear red gloves, and they will notice the staggering grandmother around them (Poland Veronica saw the old woman walking hard outside the window when she was dressing before going to the concert, and offered to help her carry the bag; France Veronika encountered the same situation at school.) Objects appeared around both: lip balm, small reflective plastic balls, a piece of string—Veronika Poland twisted a piece of music clip Rope until it breaks, French Veronica received a package with a shoelace, she put the shoelace next to her EKG report, the taut straight line suggests death[5], and in Polish Vero The dangling rope above Nika's coffin echoed back and forth.Both have fragile hearts, beautiful voices and a penchant for van den Budenmeyer's work.French Veronica dreamed of the landscape painted by Polish Veronica's father.They are Eastern and Western European versions of the same character, one coming to Krakow from the Polish countryside, and the other coming to Paris from Clermont-Ferrand.

Even in Alexander's works, the same figure needs to be carved into two puppets.At his house, Veronica finds him making a puppet in his own image. "Why two?" she asked him. "Because I touch it repeatedly during the performance, if I only prepare one, it may break." He replied.His puppet show is also related to this correspondence: the ballerina wants to dance, seems to die suddenly (although Veronica later says that the ballerina just broke her leg), and reappears as a butterfly.Is it because the French Veronica was able to fly because the Polish Veronica fell?Was the death of a Polish girl a warning to her French counterpart to stop singing?After Alexander calls Veronica for the first time, there is a strange scene in the film: she seems to see Polish Veronica singing on stage, and then suddenly falls against the red background.The core question of the film seems to be very metaphysical: if we say that the world is the stage for God to perform puppet shows, and if it also includes the situation of "repeated touch, it may break", is it possible for us to survive in this world? And the prepared substitute?Or are some of us just such doubles, so that others can live smarter? This correspondence between himself and his stand-in extends to Alexander and the filmmaker, too, and we first meet the magician at school, in the midst of a bunch of lighting fixtures—like a director, and then he does it with Metamorphosis-related images tell his story.As Joanna Present, a student at Barnard College, wrote in her unpublished manuscript: Kieslowski repeatedly emphasized the corresponding relationship through fate and art, which is itself an allegorical reflection of the medium of film.In the movies, life is artificially reproduced on film; the life the audience sees on the screen is just a ghost, a chemical index of what has already happened before the camera lens. Alexander is an omnipresent controller, such as when Veronica was sitting in the car and had a cigarette in her mouth, and the car he was driving was parked next to her car.He is reminiscent of the "angel" in "The Ten Commandments", and we never know when he will suddenly appear and how he will relate to what is in front of us.We can also relate Alexander to Tomek in "A Short Film About Love," both of whom spy on the woman they're interested in, using phone calls and letters to keep themselves close to each other.