Double Life of Veronique

Theatrical Release Date: 1991 11 24 (USA)

UPC: 5021866010403

Studio: Artificial Eye Release

Summary: The Double Life of V?ronique is the story of two young women who are -- in some mysterious and irresolvable way -- the same woman leading two different yet interconnected lives. Those familiar with Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski's later "Three Colors" trilogy of Blue, White, and Red will recognize his fascination with accidental happenings and chance encounters, as well as Ir?ne Jacob (from Red) whose performance as both Veronika and Veronique won the 1991 Cannes Film Festival award for best actress. Veronika and V?ronique are born on the same day in 1966, one in Poland, the other in France. They grow up separately, unaware of each other's existence, but with the vague and rarely expressed feeling that they are "not alone." The story begins in Poland, where Veronika (like V?ronique) is a talented vocalist and music student who wins a prestigious singing competition and is given the chance to perform with a local symphony. On the night of the concert, while singing a duet onstage, Veronika loses consciousness and dies. V?ronique is emotionally wounded by the loss of her double and decides to end her singing career. The film charts the effect of Veronika's death on V?ronique and on her dispassionate and unsatisfying relationships with men, especially her father. She is led to puppeteer and children's book author Alexandre Fabbri (Philippe Volter), whose puppet shows and stories are dramatic variants on her own mysterious problem. While looking through photographs of V?ronique's trip to Poland, Fabbri discovers a picture of Veronika walking through a student demonstration in Kracow. He shows the picture to V?ronique, who intuits the significance of Veronika's perfect likeness to herself. ~ Anthony Reed, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Foreign Language Film – null Best Polish Film – Golden Duck Best Music Score – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Actress – Cannes Film Festival Best Foreign Film – Independent Spirit Awards Film Presented – Telluride Film Festival Best Foreign Language Film – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture – National Society of Film Critics

Features: Conversation with Kieslowski
Interview with Ir?ne Jacob
"Kieslowski Polish Filmmaker" documentary
Short films: "The Musicians" (1958), "Factory" (1970), "Hospital" (1976), "Railway Station" (1980)

Double Life of Veronique

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 03/22/2010

Audio: DHMA null

Runtime: 94 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) French

Subtitles: English

Elbert Ventura

Polish master Krzysztof Kieslwoski's most ravishing film is an ethereal rhapsody grounded in the resolutely sensual presence of its lead, Irene Jacob. With its oblique story line, cryptic rhyming patterns, and focus on mood and tone, this elusive movie is more poem than narrative. Slawomir Idziak's shimmering cinematography gives the movie a spectral sheen, perfectly conveying the rich and shifting mysteries of coincidence, fate, and human connection Kieslowski explores. The movie bears more than a passing resemblance to Kieslowski's final film, Red, yet another movie that evinces the filmmaker's obsession with fraternity, not to mention Irene Jacob's face. Mostly captivating, Double Life's metaphysical meditation occasionally verges on silly self-absorption; at its worst, the movie's solemn search for profundities could almost be a parody of European artiness. Even at its most dubious though, the movie is unfailingly alluring; its golden, lambent beauty remains rapturous throughout. Lyrical and elliptical, the movie can also be read simply as an ode to its lead: Jacob's Veronique is clearly an idealized projection of feminine perfection, so perfect that Kieslowski had to make two of her. Muse and artist were rewarded equally upon the film's release, as the movie won Jacob a Best Actress award at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival and garnered Kieslowski the best reviews of his career at the time. ~ Elbert Ventura, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Alain Frerot  Actor 
Wanda Kruszewska  Actor 
Chantal Neuwirth  Actor 
Thierry de Carbonniere  Actor 
Youssef Hamid  Actor 
Nausicaa Rampony  Actor 
Jan Sterninski  Actor 
Gilles Gaston-Dreyfus  Actor 
Bernadetta Kus  Actor 
Jacek Wojcicki  Actor 
Lorraine Evanoff  Actor 
Dominika Szady  Actor 
Philippe Campos  Actor 
Jacques Potin  Actor 
Boguslawa Schubert  Actor 
Bernard P. Guiremand  Executive Producer 
Krzysztof Kieslowski  Director 
Krzysztof Kieslowski  Screenwriter 
Krzysztof Piesiewicz  Screenwriter 
Zbigniew Preisner  Composer (Music Score) 
Leonardo de la Fuente  Producer 
Irčne Jacob  Actor 
Wladyslaw Kowalski  Actor 
Aleksander Bardini  Actor 
Guillaume de Tonquedec  Actor 
Sandrine Dumas  Actor 
Philippe Volter  Actor 
Claude Duneton  Actor 
Halina Gryglaszewska  Actor 
Jerzy Gudejko  Actor 
Kalina Jedrusik  Actor 
Louis Ducreux  Actor 

Country: France,Poland