1994-01-26
N/A
92 min
Polish immigrant Karol Karol finds himself out of a marriage, a job and a country when his French wife, Dominique, divorces him after six months due to his impotence. Forced to leave France after losing the business they jointly owned, Karol enlists fellow Polish expatriate Mikołaj to smuggle him back to their homeland.
I liked it, but the script seems a little too far-fetched.
Of the three films in Krzysztof Kieslowski's “color trilogy”, this is perhaps the closest to comedy. The plot begins with a couple's divorce: he is Polish and went to France because of her, who is French. Both got married, set up a common life, but the truth is that the couple's sex life is nil, he is not capable of consummating the act. He's not impotent, he's not homosexual, he just seems intimidated by the moment. Not satisfied with that, she keeps the goods, takes everything from her misfortunate ex-husband and threatens him. Living on the street, with no money and no life prospects, he decides to return to Warsaw in his own suitcase. After a while, he is a rich man. He's not an honest man, he didn't make his money in the most innocent way, but the movie ignores the morality around that. It's time to make the little Frenchy pay for what she did to him, and pay dearly.
Let's go first to the points that I liked the most about this film: on a technical level, it's an impeccable work of art. The director is meticulous, he thinks of the smallest details and wants everything the way he envisioned it. The color white is omnipresent throughout the film, as it was in “Blue”. The cinematography is remarkable, and the construction of the sets and costumes is quite good. Despite being elegant, the music really accentuates the dark comic vein of the film, which works very well. The work of the two main actors, Zbigniew Zamachowski and Julie Delpy, is also very good. He, however, gains more visibility not only for being the protagonist, but for the very ironic and pleasantly funny way in which the character was developed. Delpy's role is not as rich, nor as interesting, but the actress manages herself well.
The biggest problem I had with this film is the near-absolute unlikelihood of the script. In addition to the protagonist making money very easily without apparently any problems or harmful consequences, he is very much torn between love and revenge. On the one hand, it's obvious that he's never forgotten his ex-wife, that he loves her, despite all the bad things she's done and all the difficult situations he's been through to him because of her actions. He just doesn't seem to be able to hate her. On the other hand, he hates her enough to make her pay for everything, and in a very original way. What are we left with? Revenge without hate?
This is my favourite of the Kieslowski trilogy - even if it might make you wonder about the efficiency of airport security in future! It all centres around "Karol Karol" (Zbigniew Zamachowski) who is facing divorce from his glamorous wife (Julie Delpy) - on the grounds of non-consummation - and that is going to reduce him to poverty. Luckily, on the Metro platform, he encounters "Mikolaj" (Janusz Gajos) and the two concoct a plan to smuggle him back to his native Poland where he can make his fortune (maybe) and get some revenge on his wife. His journey doesn't quite go to plan, but he eventually manages to get a job working security and when he overhears the plans of his bosses to buy up some land, he jumps the gun and is soon on the road to riches.... It's funny, this film. Not in a ha-ha sort of fashion, but the writing and the characterisations create an enjoyable series of scenarios - some, admittedly, less plausible than others - as the adaptable and quick-thinking "Karol" carefully plots his vengeance. The supporting cast deliver well - his hairdressing cousin "Jurek" frequently stealing his scenes but not in a way we might expect. Short and sweet and well worth a watch.
