“The double life of Veronique” a

‘The double life of Veronique’ is a strange and creative film shotted by Krysztof Kieslowski. It tells the stories of two young ladies who were born in the same day, had the same face and name in different places. One of them is from Warsaw and another is in Paris. They are both unaware of one another during their lives. However, they are connected by consciousness in a magic way. In the film, from 00:08:32 to 00:08:40, Polish Weronica told her father that “I have a strange feeling. I feel like I am not alone. Like I am not alone in the world”. After the Polish Weronica was dead, French Veronique also said “It is as if I were grieving.” (00:31:41); “I felt that I was alone” (00:45:48). Although they are similar to each other and have interconnection, they have different endings in the movie. Weronica in Warsaw was dead when she was singing as a leader in a concert. Because she has heart condition but still insisted to reaching an unbelievable high note. Her double in Paris also has a heart condition but much more down-to-earth: she became a music teacher and fell in love with a man who is a puppeteer and writes children’s story.

This movie not only contains fantastic elements and a special conception. The two different endings of the double Veronique are also similar to the different working life of Krysztof Kieslowski in Poland and French (Nettelbeck, 1999).

The movie began with the Polish Weronica. She was a loyal saint and singing in a choir. People can recognize her passion on singing from her enjoyable expression and earnest attitude when she was singing the song. Moreover, her voice is beautiful and gain a chance to lead a song in a concert later, which means she has great talent on singing. Similarly, born in 1941 in Warsaw, Poland, Krysztof Kieslowski was one of the most famous Polish film-maker in the late 20th century (Haltof, 2004). After he was graduated, he firstly created a series of documentaries to express how people act themselves in their life with his passion on film making (Douban, n.d.). His ‘Workers 1971 - Nothing About Us Without Us’ in 1972 and ‘First Love’ in 1974 are also of great importance during that time. However, he gradually found that documentaries have limitations to show people’s tragedies because people would like to lock the door when they cry, instead of let others know. Thus, he turned to shot movies reflected society. However, when he intended to invent movies which reveal some problems of society, his movie Blind Chance (1981) was forbidden to be released until 1987 (Douban, n.d.). This is an injury for him in his career. In the film, Polish Weronica also has an injury after she just passed her piano exam (00:05:52-00:05:59). They were both hurt by others when purchasing their goal. Krysztof Kieslowski may hesitate because of this situation, just like what Weronica asked her father in 00:09:22, “What do I really want?”. This question was not hard to be answered because people can realize that singing is what she really wants from 00:12:47-00:13:16 when she joined the song unconsciously but with passion. From 00:16:24 to 00:17:42, she engaged in singing and hurt her finger when she was auditioned. At the same time, Krysztof Kieslowski also insisted to create different movies and showed his passion in this area, which means he also knew movies are the goals he really wants to purchase. 

As the economic decline in Polish in 1980s, the development of Polish movies was also slowed down. It is hard for government to raise money for the development of films so Polish movies was squeezed out of native market (BaiDu, n.d.). In the meanwhile, the role of cinema in the cultural field is stressed in France. Although after World War II, the movies of France are also had a hard time, France became the second cinema nation in the following twenty years by a series of revolution (Nettelbeck, 1999). Under this circumstance, “The double life of Veronique” was shotted in France.Krysztof Kieslowski also mentioned that the reason why he chose France was it is easier for him to find money (Kieslowski, 1994). He began to use French techniques and turned his work from Poland into France (Nettelbeck, 1999) just like after showing the life of Polish Weronica, the French Veronique was moved on the screen. 

French Veronique was sad after Polish Weronica died and quitted from singing although she did not know the reason. This is similar to Krysztof Kieslowski’s life. He needed to leave Poland and turned into “European”. He was also sad and nervous about the change but he had to do that. Then, after Veronique watched the marionettes, she was touched by the story that a girl purchases her goal finally became a butterfly and fell in love with Alexandre. She believes love and hope showed in the story at that time, just like Krysztof Kieslowski believes his films can arouse people’s awareness about the problems in society and make some changes. However, when Veronique met Alexandre in a coffee shop, Alexandre said that he wanted to write a book based on Veronique. Then, she was angry and escaped because she thought his aim to date with her is that he intended to utilize her (01:13:20-01:17:15). It can also be seen as the nervous and complex psychology of Krysztof Kieslowski. He wanted to accept the French style but he was also afraid of losing himself (Nettelbeck, 1999). At the end of the film, Veronique accepted Alexandre, just like Krysztof Kieslowski accepted the style of European cinema and created ‘The double life of Veronique’. 

Additionally, the Polish Weronica is like the ideal aspect of Krysztof Kieslowski, she chases the power that out of her control. People can realize that in the very beginning of the film from the universe and stars (Nettelbeck, 1999). Santilli (2006) also mentioned that Weronica was a character full of emotions and like a “little girl”. However, French Veronique seems to be mature and down-to-earth. The purposes of Krysztof Kieslowski for creating films also have a change from revealing social problems to revealing spirits of individual (Nettelbeck, 1999). From an ideal purpose to a down-to-earth purpose.

In conclusion, ‘The double life of Veronique’ is a neoteric movie. It did not only have referential values in 20th century but can also become a reference for recent movies to express film-makers’ experiences. 

Reference:

Baidu, (n.d.). Polish movies. Retrieved from: https://baike.baidu.com/item/波兰电影/1327670?fr=aladdin 

Douban (n.d.). Krzysztof Kieslowski. Retrieved from: https://movie.douban.com/celebrity/1054428/

Haltof, M. (2004). The cinema of Krysztof Kieslowski, variations on destiny and chance. Columbia University Press.

Kieslowski, K (1994). Kieslowski on Kieslowski. Danusia Stok.

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.

Santilli, P. C. (2006). Cinema and Subjectivity in Krzysztof Kieślowski.The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism,64(1), 147–156.