Author: Little Uncle, a beginner of European film. I love watching film but I still exploring and trying to develop the ability about understand deeply of the film. This article is my personal understanding and observation about one shot in The Double Life of Veronique.
The Double Life of Veronique is a film directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski (1991). This is a story about two girls who had the same name, the same interest and the same appearance. One of them lived in Poland, and another lived in France. However, although they had the same name and same appearance, their destinies are different. Veronique in Poland dead because of her heart disease, and Veronique in France gave up singing. Maybe there was a connection between two Veronique, so Veronique in France changed unreasonably sometimes.
There was an interesting shot in this film, from 01:31:58 to 01:32:30, it’s already near to the end. During nearly one minute, the camera moved from Alexandre and Veronique and the puppet in their hands to another puppet. At this time, Veronique just woke up and walked to find Alexandre in their house, and played the puppet that Alexandre made together. Their clothes were casual, it lets us know that they felt comfortable when they stay with each other, so they do not need to dress up carefully.
In this shot, Veronique in Alexandre’s arms, they were intimate. What in their hands is a puppet made according to Veronique’s appearance and story? Puppets had important influence between them: when Veronique met Alexandre for the first time, it related to the puppet show; when she knew his name, it related to a book which was related to the puppets. And puppets are the most important skills for Alexandre, so he chose puppets for Veronique. He may not understand Veronique’s feelings totally, but he can use the puppet to show her story. So, this workshop may be important for both of them, on the one hand, it was Alexandre’s work; on the other hand, Veronique can look at another girl through the puppet. At the same time, the dark environment created an ambiguous and blurred atmosphere.
In this shot, there were two puppets which had the same appearance. When Alexandre and Veronique played one of them,another one just lied there without anything. In a certain level, they can represent different fates about two girls. Veronique in Poland already died,and without any sense or thoughts. Her eyes were dim and without any hope.However, the girl in France still live, but her life already changed by someone, for example, the spirit of another girl, or a man who has established a close relationship. Alive Veronique stared the puppet which used her as a prototype, she seemed to want to explore another girl who already died through time and space. So her eyes were focused, but there was a hint of sadness in them.
This shot was a medium close-up shot of two characters, with straight-on angle, and this was a moved shot. The scene moved from two characters and one puppet to another puppet. This can be seen as a shift in the focus of the audience. At the beginning of this shot, the camera focused on Veronique, Alexandre and one puppet to show Veronique’s expressions and actions, then the camera moved to another puppet. In this shot, there were four characters, and they are divided into two parts. The first one was a couple and a puppet. At that time, Veronique already had been able to continue to live as a loved individual (the puppet in their hand was controlled by them,and Alexandre already write a story for it at the end of this shot, maybe it will have possibilities to play in public, maybe it can represent that this puppet will have a new life in the future.) However, for the second part,another lonely puppet, although the story that Alexandre wrote had connection to it, but it can not feel anything anymore. In the future, lonely puppet can only coexist with previous puppet as a prop to set off it.
However, in this shot, there were not any differences between two puppets, Alexandre seemed that just pick one of them randomly to play with Veronique, so maybe it meant that the fates of two Veronique can be changed if they do not represent any political metaphor.However, in this film, two Veronique had the meaning about Western and Eastern.According to Nettelbeck(1999, p. 141), Veronique in Poland died for singing because the music is Poland’s heart and the pinnacle. And after she died,Veronique in France made some decisions differently. For example, she gave up singing. These differences made Veronique in France walked from an idealized world to a more practical world, which can give her a chance to live.
In this shot, audiences can not watch Alexandre clearly for a long time, the focus of this shot is Veronique and two puppets. The light and color also helped to achieve this aim. In a dark room,Alexandre wore a black and his face was darker than Veronique; Veronique wore a dark green cloth but her skin is so white and bright, so audiences can observe her expressions clearly; and two puppets were pretty bright as well so that they were conspicuous in this scene.
Finally, in the end of this shot, Alexandre already began to introduce his story, it makes the transition between the two shots more natural.
In summary, this shot had many meaningful points. It can be seen as a conclusion about the relationships between two Veronique, and the French girl’s feeling to another girl. Besides, it showed the intimacy of Alexandre and Veronique, it also made audiences put their attentions to four characters in this shot. This shot had its own emphasis so that audiences can feel different senses with its movement. For the main characters,Veronique and two puppets, when Veronique held that puppet, what did she think,and, who did she stare at?
Reference list:
Kieślowski, K. (1991).The Double Life of Véronique. France, Poland, Norway: Sidéral Productions,Zespól Filmowy X, Norsk Film, Canal+.
Nettelbeck, C. W.(1999). Is There a 'European Cinema'? The 'French' Films of Krzysztof Kieslowski as Case Study.Australian Journal of French Studies, 36 (1),pp.136-151.