Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Rouge (Red) is the capstone of late Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski’s trilogy, Trois coleurs: Bleu, Blanc, Rouge. I highly recommend seeing all three of these films in that order, although I feel Bleu is the true masterpiece, Rouge is very good, and Blanc is but a distant third. Each film stands on its own, but seeing all three in the right order will give added satisfaction because of the subtle interactions between the three, including scenes taken from different viewpoints.

I think most people watch films purely for entertainment, but I prefer to be entertained and intellectually stimulated. Kieslowski’s films deliver both. In Rouge, he reiterates his interest in fate, random (some would say mystical) interconnections between people, and notions of parallel lives.

At first, we follow Valentine (the beautiful Irene Jacob), a Swiss model and student as she goes about her daily life: she talks on the phone with her always absent and sullen boyfriend, laments her brother’s drug addiction, does a photo shoot and a fashion modelling gig. Just as we start to wonder if there’s any point to all this, the film propels us into a chance meeting between Valentine and a completely disaffected and cynical retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) whose hobby is eavesdropping on his neighbors’ telephone conversations.

Disgusted, Valentine would prefer to simply leave, but an obligation and an increasing sense of intrigue are enough to cement a relationship between them. Eventually, Valentine starts to sense that their fates are intertwined, that the judge somehow knows or has control over some aspect of her future.

As the judge begins to tell Valentine of his life, which was nearly destroyed by the betrayal of a lover in his youth, parallel lives start to emerge. There is a young law student, who Valentine has never met, living on the next block, and his lover betrays him. Is Valentine the soul mate of one or both of these men?

Enough said about the plot. To me, what’s missing from the film is just as intellectually stimulating as what is there. For example, it’s clear there are two sets of parallel lives offset by a generation and that we see some but not all characters from each generation. But, Kieslowski plants many clues about what the various missing people must have been like, and it’s interesting to mine the film for them.

The performances of Jacob and Trintignant are superb and devoid of cliches. Jacob’s young model is intelligent, down to earth, and possessed of a strong moral sense. She longs to bring meaning to her life.

Kieslowski does not take sides on the question of fate vs. coincidence even in an amazing final scene that neatly wraps up all three films.

For my reviews of other foreign films, check out:

Best foreign films: mid 1980s through 1990s
Jean de Florette & Manon of the Spring
Trois Coleurs: Bleu (Blue)
Saura's Carmen
Amores Perros


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older