"Trois Couleurs: Rouge" (1994)

In Kieslowski’s “Red” we get the story of a model who befriends a retired judge who spies upon his neighbors. (Story is a loose term here, as the plot is diffuse.) Parallel to that, a neighbor of the model who is a student preparing to be a judge, goes through a relationship trauma that eerily reflects a similar experience the retired judge had in his youth. So much so, one wonders if there is supposed to be some time travel paradox implied.

The theme here is fraternity, and Kieslowski’s aim seems to be to highlight our interconnectedness. Everything we do impacts other people. We are bound to society. We do not exist in a vacuum. And even though the trilogy has been said to treat the three ideals of freedom, equality, and fraternity, all three movies have been more about love. Fraternity, being an aspect of brotherly love, may be the closest and easiest concept to tie into that overarching theme.

We again get the scene of the woman trying to recycle a bottle, and our heroine here finally does what we had hoped all along, she helps her. In the end, characters from all three films are seen in a news report highlighting the survivors of a ferry tragedy. The hope is that they will take this second chance in life and live better after the experiences they have been through in the three films. If nothing else, the viewers will hopefully see through all the ambiguity in the films and latch onto the messages.