The timing of the shot is 00:03:45 – 00:04:33. This shot belongs to the third scene of The Double Life of Véronique(Fuente & Kieslowski, 1991) when Polish Weronika is singing in a girl choir in an old neighborhood, and it starts raining. It is the start of Polish Weronika’s story and the first time we see the face of the grown-up protagonist clearly on the screen. In other words, we know nothing about this Weronika before it, therefore, this shot serves mostly as a setting for our first impression of her.
Before this shot, we see the childhood footage of two little girls in different countries, and then the credits appear with the singing of the choir. Nevertheless, we won’t know there is actually a choir until we see the singing scene, we might think it is just the background music that accompanies the credits. Then the close-up of Weronika’s face pops up in the middle of the screen, and she starts singing the second verse of the song. This shifting from non-synchronous sound to synchronous sound brings a sense of freshness and amazes us by breaking our preconception of the song as the background music, which can be seen as one of the director’s clever designs that makes the audience instantly look forward to this film.
After reacting to the shift, our attention is immediately drawn to the beautiful singing girl in the middle. Polish Weronika looks straight ahead and sings affectionately, probably standing in the front row, and her mellow voice becomes clearer than before as if we stood closer. Behind her are three other choir girls in white shirts and black skirts like her, but we can only see their shirts because of the slightly low angle shot. Their shirts kind of becoming a blurry white background and makes the outline of Weronika’s dark brown hair stand out in the foreground, which also leads our focus to the look and performance of the heroine.
The performance of Irène Jacob, the actress who played both Polish Weronika and French Véronique, did a remarkable acting in this shot (“La double vie de Véronique”, n.d.). She smiles all the way through the singing and raises her eyebrows when hits the high notes, gazing affectionately into the distance, lost in the song. Within a single line, the passion for music and singing of this lovely Polish girl has already emerged and moved the audience, and the feeling is reinforced when the rain begins to fall. As she starts to sing the second line, a raindrop hits her forehead, and she blinks as if stung by the coolness of the rain, then she smiles more broadly, reaching out to gently wipe the raindrop, does not stop singing. It is the close-up of her face that let us see every little expression of hers so clearly, and the act of blinking is such a natural reaction that reminds us of the feeling of being hit by a raindrop in our own life, which pulls us closer to her, and shows that she is so sensitive and vulnerable. Moreover, her gentle wiping does not seem like she is trying to get rid of the drops, instead, she is feeling it with enjoyment and a little curiosity like a child, which reveals the innocence and purity of her character.
The rain grows heavier, and the sound of the rain becomes louder. More and more drops hit Weronika’s face and she just lets them slide down, continuing her singing. In the blurry background, the three girls start to scurry to get out of the rain one by one and the chorus starts fading away, which makes the voice of Weronika louder and clearer. The camera stays at the same position, the first two girls just walk out of the frame and the last girl runs to a further back place that keeps her from the rain, leaving Weronika alone in the front singing the last note. The confusion and the blur of the relative vigorous movement in the background are in sharp contrast to Weronika’s state of being immersed in the song, standing still in the rain blinking constantly because of the dense drops when the other girls are fixing their hair in the background. With these frames, Kieslowski has not only showed Weronika’s love for singing but also let the audience see a brave and romantic girl who is willing to pay for what she loves and therefore, respect her. Furthermore, using a blurred background to highlight the foreground character is Kieslowski’s usual technique in this film. Later in the scene when Weronika runs into French Véronique in Krakow Square, the tumultuous crowd and the police officers who come to suppress them in the background are also obscured by the panning camera, highlighting Weronika’s surprise and concentration (Ma, 2011).
The close-up shot places Weronika’s face right in the middle of the screen and her eyes on the upper third of the screen, which follows the rule of thirds and leads our attention to the actress’s innocent eyes, and her twinkling eyes and flickering lashes make us realize the beauty and kindness of this girl. Moreover, the low angle shot makes her face look shorter and her features bigger, which adds to the childlike look on her face. We can see that Kieslowski is trying to let Weronika appear like a pure angel. The use of warm yellow tone in films often symbolizes happiness and warmth, and in this shot, the color tone gives the audience an Anacreontic and joyful feeling because of the singing girl and her beautiful voice (Huo, 2017). Also, the warm yellow tone makes Weronika feels more approachable.
This shot as the beginning of the story is very successful in creating one of the main characters Weronika. Through the cleverly designed editing, performance, composition, and color tone, Kieslowski makes us fall in love with this Polish girl within a minute.
Reference List:
Fuente, L. D. L. (Producer), & Kieslowski, K. (Screenwriter/ Director). (1991). The Double Life of Véronique [Motion Picture]. France: Sidéral Productions.
Huo, L. (2017). 解析电影《夏洛特烦恼》的色调运用. 视听 / Radio & TV Journal, 9, 83–84.
La double vie de Véronique. (n.d.) Retrieved from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101765/
Ma, Y. (2011). 灵与肉的哀歌——《两生花》的视听语言分析. 电影评介 / Movie Review, 15, 31–33. https://doi-org.ez.xjtlu.edu.cn/10.3969/j.issn.1002-6916.2011.15.017