Historical background of The double life of Veronica
The problems in Europe after World War II were dual in nature. On the one hand, the conflicts that remained within Europe were not eliminated with the Berlin Wall, and on the other hand, cultural hegemony was transferred from Europe to the United States, and Europe became anxious about maintaining its cultural identity. French cinema had already begun to confront the American film industry and define its identity long before the Second World War. In a market that was more favorable to Hollywood than to France, the French film industry certainly faced the danger of survival; but more than purely economic factors, the French film industry was more concerned with a constant and heightened anxiety about the loss of French cultural identity (Nettelbeck, 1999, 137). In the face of such pressures, France has taken measures to protect and strengthen its film industry and, while competing with the Hollywood industry for markets, has maintained an ideology that evaluates and discusses film as art (Nettelbeck, 1999, 138). At the same time, France has taken the initiative to collaborate with other countries in order to establish its geopolitical strategic role identity in today's world. One director, Kieslowski, who came to France from Poland in Eastern Europe, was able to secure French patronage under these policies. Against this backdrop, Two Lives was born.
The Eastern European cultural industries were the first to suffer massive cuts and withdrawal of secure funding early in the 1990s. Cinema was affected most notably. Throughout Eastern Europe filmmaking underwent volatile structural changes and was subjected to contradictory undertakings in administration and financing. The crumbling production routines caused a creativity crisis for many filmmakers. Problems included unfair competition, a deepening generation gap, and decline in feature, documentary, and animation output. The concurrent crisis in distribution and exhibition led to a sharp drop in box office indicators for all productions carrying an Eastern European label.
Iordanova(2002, 517) states that in the early 1990s, the Eastern European cultural industry suffered massive funding cuts and withdrawals. The film industry was the most obviously affected. Eastern Europen filmmakers experienced tumultuous structural changes and suffered from contradictions in management and financing. At the same time, the box office indicators declined sharply by the crisis in distribution and exhibition for all productions labeled as Eastern European. During this difficult estate, film co-production played a crucial role in the film industry of all Eastern European countries. In addition to the harsh filmmaking environment in Eastern Europe, a growing anti-American sentiment motivated the cooperation between Eastern and Western Europe. In the face of the spectacular triumph of Hollywood's commercial productions on the European screen, the reintegration of Eastern European cinema as a means of strengthening European filmmaking became an imperative for those developing the cultural policy for a "new Europe" (Iordanova, 2002, 519). Although the director repeatedly emphasized that he was reluctant to discuss political topics in his film, The double life of Veronique, has a link to the particular historical period of the time. The special clue is that this film is the first film of the director after he transformed his filmmaking environment. Kieslowski had been under strict censorship in Poland under communist rule. This was coupled with the fact that Polish audiences were more willing to consume entertaining products than thoughtful works of substance(Coates,1992, 335). After coming to France, encouraged by the policy, he had the freedom in terms of funding and content.
The film features two girls with the same name, appearance and talent, called Veronica. In Catholic tradition, saint Veronica is a legendary woman who wipes Jesus' face on his way to Golgotha, and the image of Jesus' face is miraculously imprinted on the veil she uses. The origin of this name has been variously suggested; some believe it derives from the Macedonian name Berenice, meaning "bearer of victory" or the Greek word "pheronike" having the meaning of bearing (phero-) and victory (like-). However, folk etymology suggests its origin from the Latin-Greek word "vera eikon" (vera-real and eikon-image) (Draniewicz, 2017, 71). Although in Kieślowski's film there is no mention of the story of St. Veronica or of the image of Christ on her veil. Given that the director had created a film series related to religion (The Ten Commandments), it is implied that Veronica has the identity of a compassionate sufferer due to this allusion.
The creative environment in which the director works before and after corresponds to the different fates of the two girls in the film who have the same artistic talent. The girl who lives in Poland, despite her physical limitations in order to sing, eventually dies of a singing-induced heart attack. The girl with the same name, face and talent lives in France. After realizing the danger of singing to herself, Veronica in France gives up her efforts in her singing career and turns to be a teacher. The destruction of the Polish girl makes the French girl feel the danger of singing and thus give up singing and choose to survive. It is as if to suggest that the film himself could only continue his creative career in a more pragmatic way by leaving the unhealthy creative environment.
But when we compare the French girl to the circumstances the director faced in France, this does not imply a triumphant ending, but rather a story with a cautionary or portentous message. The surviving French girl escapes the dangers of singing, but she also feels used and exploited in the safety of her school environment. While watching a puppet show with her students, the French girl is attracted to the technician who manipulates the puppets and falls in love with him. She later discovers that her story and identity have been made into a new puppet story by the technician. Instead of being loved equally, she finds out that she is being used and exploited. She decides to leave and return to her father, who is a carpenter worker. What she seeks is perhaps not only the comfort of her father's love, but also the humility and honesty that the art of craftsmanship possesses(Nettelbeck, 1999, 141). What happens to her seems to suggest the director's concern about his own transformation, whether his talent faces exploitation, whether he faces the lack of freedom again.
References
Coates, P. (1992). Metaphysical love in two films by Krzysztof kieslowski. The Polish Revie, 37(3), pp.335-343. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25778646
Draniewicz, A. B. (2017). How Kieślowski's late films were influenced by his Polishness and his early Polish films. Retrieved from
http://hdl.handle.net/10454/17399
Iordanova, D. (2002). Feature filmmaking within the new Europe: moving funds and images across the East–West divide. Media, Culture and Society, 24(4), pp.517-558. doi:10.1177/016344370202400404
Nettelbeck, C. (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. Retrieved from https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=991010675;res=IELAPA