the double life of veronique ( french : la double vie de veronique , polish : podwójne życie weroniki ) is a 1991 french-polish-norwegian drama film directed by krzysztof kieślowski and starring irène jacob .

written by kieślowski and krzysztof piesiewicz , the film explores the themes of identity , love , and human intuition through the characters of weronika , a polish choir soprano , and her double , véronique , a french music teacher .

the two women do not know each other , and yet they share a mysterious and emotional bond that transcends language and geography .

the double life of veronique is notable for sławomir idziak 's innovative cinematography and zbigniew preisner 's operatic score .

the film was kieślowski 's first to be produced partly outside his native poland .

it won the prize of the ecumenical jury and the fipresci prize at the 1991 cannes film festival for krzysztof kieslowski , and the best actress award for irène jacob .

the double life of veronique was selected as the polish entry for the best foreign language film at the 64th academy awards , but was not accepted as a nominee .

the double life of veronique

double life of veronique , the ( la double vie de veronique ) . dir . krzysztof kieslowski . perf .
the double life of veronique cocoons you within its beauty and refuses to let go .
la double vie de veronique ( the double life of veronique ) . i love this movie so hard . | film | pinterest | movie , films and cinema
with the headline : review / film ; metaphysical equation in ' the double life of veronique ' .
the filming locations used for the double life of veronique are on my site , kieslowski’s world , in the films section .
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refracted reflections take center stage in krzysztof kieślowski’s the double life of veronique , a poetic overture on the power of senses and sensibilities .
this piece was originally published in the criterion collection’s 2006 edition of the double life of véronique .
don ' t even attempt to resolve that paradox , and the double life of veronique will work on its own poetic terms .
this essay was originally published in the booklet accompanying the 2006 dvd release of the double life of véronique .
krzysztof kieślowski’s 1991 masterpiece the double life of véronique ( la double vie de véronique ) is quite simply one of the most beautiful films ever made .
kieslowski has directed several excellent films before this one , but the double life of veronique is a work of genius . it is tight , spare and visually brilliant .
i don’t remember the first time i saw the double life of veronique . it was probably the revue cinema in peterborough… my habitual seat , near the front , left of center . whatever…
this essay was originally published in the booklet accompanying the 2006 dvd release of the double life of véronique . a new life experience is in the air today , a perception that explodes the form of the linear narrative and renders life as a multi…
it is important to resist the temptation to figure out every last detail of “the double life of veronique , ” the mysterious and poetic new film by krzysztof kieslowski . that way lies frustration .
subtlety certainly haunts krysztof kieslowski’s movies . to a large degree the double life of veronique ( 1991 ) is stripped from unnecessary dialogue and events – which makes veronique’s life all the more dreamlike . this notion is empowered by the soft – green – yellowish cinematography as well as the repetitive images of the old lady and other delicate details .
all my life i ' ve felt like i was here and somewhere else at the same time ,
says weronika in kryzysztof kieslowski ' s film , the double life of veronique . 10 years ago when i first watched this film , i didn ' t have enough life experience to truly understand the depth of her statement .
it ' s at this moment that
the double life of veronique
begins to become both too literal and too fanciful , and sometimes inadvertently funny . veronika is far more engaging than veronique , who seems less a genuine character than a figure invented to finish off a theory .
if kieslowski ' s overarching metaphors about weronika / veronique seem strained , jacob ' s sensuous and delicately nuanced performance will double your pleasure .
the double life of veronique
is mr . kieslowski ' s most beautiful film to date but also , in its way , his most opportunistic . it has the shape of something manufactured to fit a co - production contract .
things i love in movies ( or just in general ) : puzzles , melancholia , beautiful women . those are the building blocks of double life .
the double life of veronique
doesn ' t end . about three - quarters of the way through , it starts to dissolve , like mist , so that by the time it is actually over the screen seems to have been blank for some time .
it was later that i saw irene jacob in the double life of veronique , a film marking kieslowski’s international debut and preceding his colors trilogy . jacob is mesmerizing in veronique . add the haunting musical theme that permeates the film and ties together the lives of these two identical veroniques , and you have a film well deserving of its criterion collection status .
the double life of veronique might not quite make my desert island list alongside three colours blue and three colours red , but it ' s still interesting and beautiful for fans of kiewslowski , and looking at the beautiful irene jacob is no hardship either .
the double life of veronique
was part of the recent new york film festival . following are excerpts from vincent canby ' s review , which appeared in the new york times on sept . 20 , 1991 . the film opens today at lincoln plaza cinemas .
the double life of veronique is a film alive with symbols that needs a level of understanding life in untaught experiences to decipher . living life was what changed this film for me and turned indifference into understanding . in 10 years , i wonder what a repeat viewing might change for me yet again . perhaps next time , having better grown into my skin , i ' ll see the film as a metaphor for the self - as veronique and weronika representing a cohesion of the full self instead of representing two separate individuals .
this essay was originally published in the booklet accompanying the 2006 dvd release of the double life of véronique . at the opening ceremony of the 1996 cannes film festival , actress irène jacob was asked to pay tribute to krzysztof kieślowski , w…
i read your recent review of the double life of veronique on slant . a couple of small points – it’s slawomir idziak not slawomir idriak and veronique taught her music students at the lycée amédée gasquet , clermont - ferrand in the south of france not paris which is 265 miles further north . apart from those very minor details , a good review of criterion’s bd region - 1 version which was released 31 january 2011 .
* * for instance , sight & sound’s greatest films of all time ( 2012 ) poll—carried out every ten years—places blue over 100 places higher than either red or the double life of véronique .
, making ' personal ' films that focused on the place of luck and fate in life .
the double life of veronique ( 1991 ) is one of kieslowski ' s best films , and is probably his most artistic , as conductors , puppeteers , artists , and european culture permeate this masterpiece of a film . this film wouldn ' t be complete without the exquisite music found on this cd . beautiful vocals , acoustic numbers , and piano generate an eclectic sound that brings out the arts and culture of eastern europe . i particularly like tracks 4 fand 8 . this soundtrack is essential to the overall experience of enjoying a kieslowski film . do yourself a favor by owning the soundtracks of the kieslowski masterpieces ( three colors trilogy , the double life of veronique , and dekalog ) .
tomorrow , our discussion of the double life of veronique continues with a staff forum on the film’s divides between emotion and logic , reality and fantasy , mystery and specificity , and more . and on thursday , noel murray dives into kieslowski’s early career as a documentarian , and explores his shift to feature filmmaking .
liberty , equality and fraternity are the themes of krzysztof kieslowski ' s trilogy , three colours . the first , blue , lives up to his reputation for gravitas . yet for the director of the decalogue and the double life of veronique his job is ' a game ' jonathan romney ' s interview with krzysztof kieslowski was originally published on 15 oct 1993
what kieslowski does for cinema is what steinbeck did for writing : create beautiful images juxtaposed against the fragility of life . the ethereal irene jacob is wonderful as the heroine doppelgangers weronika / veronique . she brings life to kieslowski ' s characters as well as meaning . the cinematography is beyond that of current american films .
let’s move into the shadow of the cloth hall standing in the centre of the square . this is where the key moments of krzysztof kieślowski’s the double life of veronique take place , when the two twin heroines see each other from a distance during a student demonstration in the late 1980s . very close to here , andrzej wajda shot a scene for his katyń in which citizens learn from the loudhailers deployed in the square of the discovery of the mass graves of polish soldiers in the katyń forest .
a beautifully made yet abstruse film , the double life of veronique is the story of two young women who are in some mysterious and irresolvable way the same woman leading two different yet interconnected lives . directed by the great krzysztof kieslowski , known for his blue , white & red films . the score by zbigniew preisner compliments the oblique images . 1991 .
when alexandre and veronique finally come together after several complications – he discovers a photograph of weronika that veronique captured by chance on her trip to krakow . she bursts into tears and he makes love to her .
the problem with these games is that they are locked in time . i can always repeat my action next year , but never last year . i cannot make an appointment in the past . something like that game is what “the double life of veronique” is about , with the addition that only the filmmaker , only kieslowski , knows both of the women .
each of us is matched somewhere in the world , by our exact double - someone who shares our thoughts and dreams .
a great film from one of my favorite directors gets a stellar blu - ray release from criterion . i hadn’t seen the double life of veronique in nearly a decade . but it’s whimsical mystery and sensuality holds more weight as ever . irene jacob’s dual performance hints at the way a surrealist world overlaps with the mysteries of real life , and the result is a beautiful , incomplete poem . you can find my review for the disc at slant .
while the audience is aware of the connections between veronique and veronika , veronique is not . she unknowingly grieves for veronika’s death , but doesn’t know what this grief means . the film therefore introduces a character to make veronique more aware of her surroundings : through the puppeteer , alexandre . veronique becomes aware of him at one of his performances , becoming entranced by the performance and by him . the texture of his face in a mirror , and the music surrounding the performance enthrall her . the scene offers little explanation of why there is romantic interest , but veronique’s intense focus on him and his performance links her character very emotionally to him in a way that the audience is made to understand .
a woman struggles to find a way to live her life after the death of her husband and child .
where the tumultuous history of a world war meets everyday life , and private lives – a . . .
krzysztof kieslowski ' s
double life of veronique
exemplifies a very distinctive kind of contemporary european film . intellectually well bred , it bewitches the eye . it introduces a lovely new actress named irene jacob and , in a series of alternately haunting and opaque sequences , examines a metaphysical equation whose symbolism and practical application would seem to be of no urgency whatsoever .
krzysztof kieslowski ' s
the double life of veronique
is a sensitive and awe inspiring experience . kieslowski is exploring the basic idea of the counterpart theory in metaphysics . if you can grasp that theory and understand the long standing ' double ' troupes ( they range from dostoyevsky ' s famous story ' the double ' to as recently as
another earth
) you will begin to unlock the film . on the surface irene jacob is terrific and the cinematography is incredible ( all those colors ! ) .
the double life of veronique
is a wonderful and complex experience that is immensely rewarding to committed viewers but beware that the film will be extremely confounding if merely ' watched . ' also , many people think the film is not ' meant to be figured out . ' i wholeheartedly disagree . i think the film fits it ' s pieces together quite well - but again , it goes back to counterpart theory . urltoken
veronique is equally entrhalled by alexandre fabbri’s puppet show and falls in love with him . everything about him reminds her of her dead sister weronika – who’s presence in her life she can only sense vaguely .
when krzysztof kieślowski’s the double life of véronique was first screened at cannes , in 1991 , the critical reception was rapturous . georgia brown declared in the village voice , “anything i say about [ the film ] is merely a labored minuet dance…
history may have sidelined the double life of véronique , but that is not to say the film has not lasted . in its teasing , fragmentary nature , it may well outlast the three colors trilogy , with its somber attempt at a definitive encapsulation of the human predicament at the end of the european twentieth century . the double life of véronique retains the kind of mystery that subsists when the search for meaning and shape is undertaken with the seriousness and pleasure of game playing . it is the sense of pervasive trompe l’oeil , of the conjurer’s—rather than the puppeteer’s—art , that makes the film endure as a spellbinding experience , as well as a perplexing one .
don ' t think i could sit through la double vie these days without the accompanying sultry tones of annete insdorf ' s commentary .
as the double life of veronique turns more incandescent and disjointed , it becomes clear kieślowski isn’t interesting in the specific machinations of narrative or the idea of forward momentum , but of hypnotic stasis in a glowing temporal space . while alive , weronicka slowly becomes aware of her potential through the same type of shared resonance veronique feels so strongly later in the film . yet this feeling doesn’t come to fruition until there’s a form of metaphysical closure , either through death or discovery . late in the film , when veronique realizes she captured her double in a photograph while visiting poland , her eyes well up as if she’s seen a long lost friend for the first time . even when this realization comes , kieślowski plays down the dramatic or even romantic expectations , instead dwelling in the haunting knowledge that maybe , someone else occupies the same mental space you do .
features weronika / veronique and the events take place from the main character’s point of view . this technique has been used in other great movies such as
the double life of veronique is a slight , lyrical fable that benefits enormously from the charm of its star , cannes award - winner irene jacob . the film introduces us to two women , both played by jacob . polish veronika leaves her provincial home town and family for the city of krakow , where she is offered a place to study singing at a prestigious music school ; . . . read more
second off is the father’s expression . something is wrong – terribly wrong . if veronique had an identical twin in poland – then who is veronique’s father ? one must take into account that the film includes a scene where weronika’s aunt hints at a medical condition that runs in the family – which could explain that veronique has been adopted . but who is the biological mother ? one could go on forever and perhaps the whole idea about a family relation is wrong and that the ending scene of the double life of veronique is simply very “deep . ” but then again – kieslowski denied that there were any metaphors in his movies and he has been quoted saying : “for me a bottle of milk is simply a bottle of milk ; when it spills , it means milk’s been spilled . ”
each of us is matched somewhere in the world , by our exact double - someone who shares our thoughts and dreams . see more »
in the double life of véronique , the camera has the same probing , investigative insistence as in kieslowski’s documentaries detailing a day in a polish hospital , or the experiences of workers and management at a factory , but now set free from the constraints the director placed upon himself in his documentary work .
first - person essays , features , interviews and q & as ; about life today .
it could easily be claimed that the finest kieslowski’s accomplishment is “three colors : blue” , which is breathtaking and won him the best film award at venice film festival , or “three colors : red” , which received oscar nominations in three categories , but here , the reasons will be presented why “the double life of veronique” is not only his best film , but a perfect film .
so far removed from political realities is double life that the only hint of the social chaos raging in poland serves as the backdrop for a chance meeting between weronika and véronique ( both played by irène jacob ) in the streets of warsaw . véronique , happily taking pictures of a political demonstration from inside a tour bus , doesn’t even notice weronika standing mystified at the sight of her spiritual double , and the tightness of the framing and dramatic cutting between the two women as the bus drives away reduces the surrounding tumult to atmosphere .
isn’t that it just relates back to its own superficiality , but that it makes its self - reference deep within the story . at the end , when alexandre tells veronique he has written a book seemingly about her life called ,
veronika lives in poland . veronique lives in paris . they don ' t know each other . veronika gets a place in a music school , works hard , but collapses and dies on her first performance . at this point , veronique ' s life seems to take a turn and she decides not to be a singer .
two women . . . complete strangers , but strangely linked to each other . . . renowned director krzysztof kieslowski ( three colors : red , white and blue ) confirmed his reputation as one of cinema ' s visionary filmmakers with this beautifully poetic , elegantly mysterious film that ponders the nature of intuition and the metaphysical connections between people . irene jacob lights up the screen as both weronika , a deeply spiritual polish soprano , and her double , veronique , a more earthy french music teacher . each senses the other and is affected by each other ' s experiences , though they have no idea of the other ' s existence . aided by a haunting operatic score , the double life of veronique is a mesmerizing masterpiece of filmmaking .
particles of light and flickers of shadow dance across the frame in krzysztof kieślowski’s luminary art film the double life of veronique , constructing a fluttering opera of duality and déjà vu seemingly suspended in motion . through the parallel characters of polish singer weronika and french music teacher veronique ( both played by irene jacob ) , women who live in separate cities but somehow feel each other’s presence , kieślowski envisions a modern world where the combination of touch and fate can reconcile life’s incomprehensible mysteries . not surprisingly , artistic mediums such as puppetry , song , and music formulate the shifting boundaries of this world , heightening the smallest moments through this feeling of unseen overlap . when their paths occasionally do cross in dizzying fits of circumstance , the women inherently gain access to a special form of self - evaluation that grows more ambiguous and personal as the film progresses .
the only time they are physically near is when veronique takes a picture of weronika while she is riding on a bus . this scene shows the imaginary character of their relationship , which is transformed into art . weronika dies , but veronique feels love toward her . the connection is broken , but it lives on .
first off – the palm on the tree is a mirror of the opening image of weronika and veronique as children . weronika’s mother shows her daughter the starry sky above them and veronique’s mother shows her daughter the veins on a leaf . interestingly – weronika later on looks through a transparent ball and sees the world from the same perspective . on the whole the two girls represent the heavenly and the earthly .
new life experience is in the air today , a perception that explodes the form of the linear narrative and renders life as a multiform flow . up to the domain of the “hard” sciences ( quantum physics and its multiple - reality interpretation ; neo - darwinism ) , we seem to be haunted by the chanciness of life and the alternate versions of reality . to quote stephen jay gould’s blunt formulation , which uses precisely the cinema metaphor : “wind back the film of life and play it again . the history of evolution will be totally different . ” either life is experienced as a series of multiple parallel destinies that interact and are crucially affected by meaningless contingent encounters , the points at which one series intersects with and intervenes in another ( see robert altman’s
eventually the government loosened its grip , and kieslowski ' s last four films were french co - productions . but his impulse to dodge the censors stuck around , as did his knack for subversion . after all , the decalogue is based on one of history ' s most famous sets of laws ; the three colors films each explore one of the founding virtues of the french republic ( liberty , equality , and fraternity ) ; and the double life of veronique seems to be at least partly about the struggles between eastern and western europe after the fall of the iron curtain .
veronique is a beautiful young french woman who aspires to be a renowned singer ; weronika lives in poland , has a similar career goal and looks identical to veronique , though the two are not related . the film follows both women as they contend with the ups and downs of their individual lives , with veronique embarking on an unusual romance with alexandre fabbri , a puppeteer who may be able to help her with her existential issues .
veronique is a beautiful young french woman who aspires to be a renowned singer ; weronika lives in poland , has a similar career goal and looks identical to veronique , though the two are not related . the film follows both women as they content with the ups and downs of their individual lives , with veronique embarking on an unusual romance with alexandre fabbri , a puppeteer who may be able to help her with her existential issues .
urltoken the double life of veronique : irène jacob , wladyslaw kowalski , halina gryglaszewska , kalina jedrusik , aleksander bardini , jerzy gudejko , janusz sterninski , philippe volter , sandrine dumas , louis ducreux , claude duneton , lorraine evanoff , slawomir idziak , krzysztof kieslowski , jacques witta , bernard - p . guiremand , leonardo de la fuente , ryszard chutkowski , krzysztof piesiewicz : movies & tv
first love ( 1974 ) depicted seven months in the life of a married couple , from four months into the wife’s pregnancy to two months after the child’s birth . kieslowski orchestrated some of the situations—all of them intended as events which would otherwise naturally occur in daily life—in order to capture the participant’s unscripted responses . originally envisioned as a documentary that would follow the newborn throughout her life until she also gave birth , kieslowski actually negotiated with polish television and managed to convince the authorities to secure the couple a new four - room apartment in order to portray an “optimistic” view of family life .
“ [ the pittsburgh region ] can double for anything in the world , as long as you don’t need a beach or the desert , ” keezer says .
his seriousness has an allure that can keep an audience in awestruck thrall - which is not always the best critical response a film - maker could wish for . his films are sparing with their humour and their moral gravity is of the sort that brooks no argument . kieslowski favours the large themes . his acclaimed series of television films , the decalogue ( 1988 ) , illustrated the ten commandments his last feature , the double life of veronique , addressed life , death and the elusive nature of identity . his new trilogy , three colours ( blue is released today with white and red to follow ) , takes on the values of liberty , equality and fraternity .
with the double life of véronique , kieslowski seems to have found the ideal hybrid cinematic form . freed from the limitations of documentary and the preoccupations of communist poland , he made a film that not only witnesses “people’s innermost thoughts and emotions” without flinching , but also represents that drive to connect as fundamentally human , yet achingly difficult to achieve .
this film presents a tour - de - force performance form irene jacob in the lead double role of weronika / veronique . i ' m a huge fan of kieslowski but i struggled with this one - it ' s difficult to get your head around it . nevertheless it presents interesting things to reflect on .
in a career with no shortage of grand cinematic works — the “three colors” trilogy , “ the double life of veronique ” — there are few who would argue that krzysztof kieslowski ‘s “ the decalogue ” isn’t his crowning achievement . and while it is currently available in a decent dvd box set from facets , a release from the criterion collection has [ … ] the post revisit a masterpiece with the international trailer for krzysztof kieslowski ’s newly restored ‘ the decalogue ’ appeared first on the playlist .
on paper , the story of the double life of veronique is fairly simple . in poland , a young woman named weronika ( irène jacob ) lives with a great passion for life : she embraces her lover antek ( jerzy gudejko ) with the same ardency she brings to the experience of being caught in a rainstorm , or experiencing a shower of dust motes falling from a decrepit ceiling . she also embraces her music fervently , dropping antek cold and moving to krakow when she gets an opportunity to perform . but her heart is weak , and the intensity of her singing strains it . even so , she continues to perform—and dies of a heart attack in the middle of a performance .
oddly enough for a film renowned for its otherworldly beauty , the double life of véronique derives much of its vitality from skills kieslowski honed making documentaries , his chief occupation for the first decade and a half of his career . the criterion collection edition includes three of kieslowski’s short documentaries , and a 2005 featurette by luc lagier on the director’s work from 1966 to 1988 explicates his documentary style , including his penchant for looking “behind the gloss of communist propaganda” . that will to unveil secrets informs kieslowski’s fictional films as well . in one of a series of interviews made during the filming of the double life of véronique , he explains that he turned away from documentary film when he realized that pushing the format to record “people’s innermost thoughts and emotions” was too invasive .
in addition to the features mentioned above , disc extras include interviews with jacob , cinematographer slawomir idziak , and composer zbigniew preisner . the companion booklet contains production facts , an essay by jonathan romney placing the double life of véronique in the context of kieslowski’s work and ' 90s film , and excerpts from the 1993 book kieslowski on kieslowski .
although no end and various decalogues involved female protagonists , double life also showcases kieslowski’s late emphasis on actresses in more progressive feminist terms . at least one commentator , alicja helman , groups the female protagonists of kieslowski’s late films ( sans white ) in a positive light :
witek runs after a train . three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of witek ' s life .
( 1981 ) , three possible outcomes of a banal incident lead a man’s life in three entirely separate directions . in the otherwise seemingly naturalistic
shohei imamura’s uncompromising vision of this mortal coil , in which the hero’s ageing mother uses her last year to improve life in their village .
the double life of véronique is a question of identity , of how much our
i
belongs to other people . of how much of
them
resides in us . are we puppets of a loving caretaker , playing our parts for his celestial audience ? or are we the music - makers , who guide his hands to protect us from harm , who demand from him a safety net of human consciousness…
the double life of veronika is the soundtrack to the acclaimedfrench film , la double vie de veronique , which won an award in thecannes film festival in 1991 . the original motion picture sound track is composed by zbigniew preisner . the music depicts the pain of two souls in search of eachother . elzbieta towarnicka ' s voice is so powerful that it moves you spiritually . the intensity and depth of the music is over - powering and yet it is quite soothing to one ' s inner soul . one can ' t help but feel overwhelmed by the conflicting emotions . there is a sense of sadness and that sadness is beautiful . this music is phenomenal and i have not come accross anything quite like it . end
krzysztof kieslowki , one of the most visionary european directors , passed away 20 years ago , and seattle polish film festival is commemorating this anniversary with a series of his films , including the double life of veronique , a short film about killing , and the entire remastered decalogue series . kieslowski ' s cinematographer and long - time collaborator slawomir idziak is our honored guest and will be present for this screening and a panel discussion titled
idziak on kieslowski
immediately following the film .
almost all movies confine any abstract visuals to behind the opening credits . in double life , the screen dissolves into a several abstract shots and short passages . intense eroticism is amplified by a close camera and the blurred results of a n ext remely short focal length… like eyes struggling to focus .
thesis ( 6 : 30 ) – weronika says “i don’t think i am alone in this world” – she is actually questioning it . catalyst ( 13 : 00 ) – weronika sees her double – veronique – on a street in krakow . antithesis ( 26 : 00 ) – weronika suffers her second heart attack during the performance of a piece by the mysterious van den budenmayer – and dies . the audience is then introduced to veronique who lives in a different country and who decides to give up her singing career . the world is placed on its head . b story ( 33 : 00 ) – veronique is introduced to alexandre fabbri during his marionette performace on her school . just as the b - character should do – he guides the main character forward to the resolution of the film : synthesis ( 120 : 00 ) – veronique discovers the photograph of weronika that she captured by chance on a bus in krakow . the question posed in the opening minutes of the movie has been answered and veronique bursts into purifying tears .
two young women , both called veronica , seem to share a single existence , albeit in different countries . polish singer weronika sees her french double , veronique , taking her picture at a political rally but dies the next day . in france , veronique feels a strange sense of loss but it takes many twists of fate to help her discover why - and even then the outcome is unclear . one of the late krzysztof kieslowski ' s more oblique films , featuring an award winning performance by irene jacob .
before miramax distributed the double life of véronique in the us , harvey weinstein insisted kieslowski add several shots to the film’s ending to provide more clarity , though the augmented conclusion does little to resolve the film’s central mystery . ( the criterion collection blu - ray , with features and extras identical to the 2006 criterion dvd release , includes the alternate american ending . )
even before its 1991 release , krzysztof kieslowski’s enigmatic the double life of véronique had taken on many more guises than the dual existence of the title . as he grappled with how suggestive or explicit to make the film , kieslowski produced 21 different cuts , all based on an uncanny , and deceptively simple , premise—two young women , one living in poland ( veronika ) and one in france ( véronique ) , share a striking resemblance , and though they never meet , each feels the other’s influence . until producers balked at the prohibitive cost , kieslowski even considered scuttling the effort to settle on a single , definitive cut , in favor of releasing multiple versions of the double life of véronique , one for each of the 17 theaters of its initial paris run .
krzysztof kieslowski ' s
the double life of veronique
has a fragile , opiated atmosphere that hovers somewhere between eroticism and melancholy . it ' s a hushed , moody puzzle of a film with the haunted , unresolved air of a ghost story by henry james , or one of borges ' poetic labyrinths . you feel as if you ' re only half - seeing it , as you might see the image of solar eclipse in smoked glass , or as if your sense of time had been disrupted and the whole thing had flashed before your eyes in the instant between heartbeats .
fans of the decalogue tend to be so reverent that it is hard not to wonder whether there isn ' t less to these dramas than meets the eye . visually prosaic , the series had enough elusive symbolism and gravitas of pacing to make it more resonant than its anecdotal nature seemed to allow for . the double life of veronique , on the other hand , was extremely stylised , slawomir idziak ' s baroque photography bringing an eerie depth to an already elliptical story ( idziak achieves similar wonders in blue ) .
but the double life… stands on its own as a gorgeous piece of work , as something that is worth experiencing and fall in love with and hope it will slide into your dreams at night . the joy of life , or should i say joie de vivre , visible in the film , especially in the polish version of jacob’s character , is intoxicating without it ever becoming sentimental . perhaps because the film refuses to say anything out loud and mostly just whisper its ideas and narratives , it avoids the risk of sentimentality .
sometimes i play a game in my life , which consists of returning to an exact place and time and duplicating an exact action .
in the 2002 sight & sound poll to determine the greatest films of all time , dekalog and a short film about killing received votes from 4 critics and 3 directors , including ebert , new yorker critic david denby , and director mira nair . [ 16 ] additionally , in the sight & sound poll held the same year to determine the top 10 films of the previous 25 years , kieslowski was named # 2 on the list of top directors , with votes for his films being split between dekalog , three colors red / blue , and the double life of veronique . [ 17 ]
when i first began my exploration into foreign cinema in high school , i had known of the importance of this film and of the director on films i knew well , like amelie . curious to delve deeper into whimsical french cinema , i watched the double life of veronique expecting it to resonate with me and become one of my favorite films . unfortunately , i was bored throughout my viewing and couldn ' t quite comprehend why it was so impactful when nothing seemed to happen . i found the pacing too slow , the narrative too convoluted to a point of disengagement , the characters too self - absorbed and unrelatable .
leading up to the emptiness of their magical connection isn’t the only reason kieslowski plays with refraction . the whole film reminds viewers throughout of the connection between weronika and veronique—and reminds them again once it’s severed . when the story focuses on weronika , living her life , she appears doubled in shot after shot , as she stands near mirrors , or reflective surfaces . very occasionally in double life , a character will actually look directly into a mirror and see themselves ( as opposed to the multiple shots where they examine a mirror at an angle , and see someone else ) but mostly , weronika is shadowed by reflections she doesn’t even notice :
i can not for the life of me think of a way to talk about or summarise my thoughts on this film . so i won ' t . just watch it .
the floodgates open to the world of the metaphysical when alexandre discovers a picture of veronika in veronique’s collection of photographs . first he assumes it is her , but veronique attests to the fact it isn’t - yet she can’t help but become overwhelmed by the possibilities of what this connection could mean . the purpose of alexandre finally becomes clear . as kieslowski explains , “alexandre’s made veronique aware that something else exists , that the other veronika did exist . he’s the one who noticed , and perhaps he understood what she couldn’t understand herself . ” the rest of the story shows how alexandre weaves veronique’s life into his art , but his initial purpose in the plot is that he is the one who begins to make her think with all her senses . his function is also made clear by the scene in which the two finally meet in a café , accomplished by him sending her a cassette of the surrounding noises of the area and hoping she is able to use the clues in the recording to track him down . it is a scene with little to do with narrative , but rather makes obvious what kind of levels the film is focusing on . in one way ,
we know life happens , so if something comes up , you can return or exchange your tickets up until the posted showtime .
the double life of veronique is a wildly original and great effort from director krzysztof kieslowski . the main idea to this film is that two women , one in france and one in poland , who don ' t know each other are aware of one another ' s existence and essential the same person . or something like that . this story ' s main concept really isn ' t too difficult , it ' s just played out strange . it is fairly original and well done though .
kieslowski never really brings his story to any resolution , and that ' s as it should be .
the double life of veronique
is a mesmerizing poetic work composed in an eerie minor key . its effect on the viewer is subtle but very real . the film takes us completely into its world , and in doing so , it leaves us with the impression that our own world , once we return to it , is far richer and portentous than we had imagined .
sometimes , these images are significant because they rhyme with later images : weronika twisting her fingers in the strings of a fringed blanket during sex mirrors the way she twines them through the lace of her music case when she sings , drawing a connective line that shows how powerfully her music affects her physically . when alexandre sends veronique that shoelace , she connects it with her own music - case lace , similar to weronika’s , without realizing why—and it’s one more suggestion that he knows something profound about the central mystery of her life . the major disappointment of the film , both for veronique and the audience , is that he doesn’t—his interest in her is mundane and selfish , and he doesn’t know any more about the mysteries of her life than she does .
that said ; i do believe the cinematography of the double life… has been copied quite strongly , just not as extensively . the main example of ‘copying’ is probably amelie ( 2001 ) , which uses not only the same color palette , but a similarly surrealistic way of framing ( though it pushes the surrealism even further and more to the front ) and even kind of look - alike main actress ( and they’re both mostly french ) with kind of similar personalities .
have i made
the double life of veronique
sound as if nothing much happens ? the movie has a hypnotic effect . we are drawn into the character , not kept at arm ' s length with a plot . both women are good and true and do nothing shameful . there is a shot of jacob , who pauses for a moment and lifts her head to the sun , and we know what she is experiencing : here i am , my life around me , my hopes high , my trust confident , standing stock still , the sun on my face , living in this moment . it is a holy moment .
besides storyline , the plot devotes its attention to themes of love , companionship and solitude . veronique quits singing ( breaks with teacher ) . veronika goes to krakow to visit her aging aunt , leaving behind her lover . both veronique and veronika have tender , loving relations with their fathers and have lost their mothers . when we first meet veronique she is making love to a man who , minutes later , she does not allow to stay . the subplot involves a lie about intimacy . a character turns the pursuit of intimacy into a game . there are co - incidences between characters who never meet . a hotel room is oddly furnished with two single beds pushed together . the story has veronique , in several different senses , looking at herself . and finally : most central of all , there is the mystical link between ( french ) veronique and ( polish ) veronika .
this is more or less the introduction to the main body of the film , which is set in france and in which the french veronique appears tolearn instinctively from the mistakes ( if that ' s what they are ) of her polish sister - in - spirit .
however familiar the music sounded i could not make sense of it . but then i noticed the name “van den budenmayer” and in a scene later on – veronique talked of a recently discovered dutch composer who lived two centuries ago .
but when she dies , and the action switches to veronique , the reflections stop for a while . veronique tells her lover that she feels alone in the world , and she doesn’t know why—she’s grieving for something , and doesn’t know who . she feels weronika’s absence , without ever having seen or known her , and the film communicates that absence by temporarily dropping the theme of doubles and reflections .
but by constantly pulling away from head - on views , from simple framing and straightforward visuals , he encourages the audience to examine every frame , and to study how he’s telling his story . so much of double life is in the juxtapositions : weronika shouting out of a window , offering help to a heavily laden old woman in the street , may not be significant , but the moment takes on weight when veronique sees a similar old woman , and has a moment of déjà vu . it’s hard to know how to interpret a shot of a woman glowering when weronika is awarded the prize at a competition—is she a second - place competitor ? a stymied judge who disapproves of the decision ? if weronika and veronique are god’s avatars on earth , bringing glorious music to the world , is the angry woman an antonio salieri - like figure representing the other side ? or something else entirely ? ( on a commentary track on criterion’s double life release , film scholar and kieslowski - book author annette insdorf suggests she’s a “harbinger of the angel of death”—a rather dramatic interpretation , but one kieslowski does nothing to encourage or refute . ) when she recurs in paris—initially seeming flabbergasted at seeing veronique , then lingering and glowering in a café to watch her—is the moment significant ? viewers can decide for themselves , since kieslowski doesn’t say .
another thread : the film is full of artists and artisans . in addition to the singers , musicians , and the puppeteer , veronika’s father paints and véronique’s father works with wood . the double life of véronique foregrounds the ubiquity of interpretation , artistic or otherwise . instances of mediated reality fill the film : a cathedral seen through a train window is distorted by imperfections in the glass ; a clear rubber ball that véronique holds up to the light inverts and gives a fish - eye perspective to scenes . the world may just be too volatile to experience first - hand , the fate of veronika seems to suggest . perhaps véronique will avoid a similar demise , because she witnessed her double after the fact , and via the mechanical reproduction of photography .
it ' s almost believable . after all , the polish filmmaker ' s most famous movies don ' t have obviously political plots . the double life of veronique , the three colors trilogy ( blue , white , and red ) , and the decalogue — a series of hour - long films that aired on polish tv in 1988 , with each episode corresponding to one of the ten commandments — are more about the concerns of ordinary citizens , like sex , family , and money , than political intrigue . ( a restored edition of the decalogue was released in theaters across the us this month , culminating in a five - disc criterion release on september 27 . )
veronique believes , initially , that her new , increasingly powerful instincts are pointing her in the direction of romance with puppeteer alexandre , whom she meets when he performs at her school . certainly , such an arc is enforced when she keeps receiving mysterious packages – an old shoelace , and empty cigar box , and finally a tape filled with seemingly random sounds – which lead her to meet alexandre again . we must remember , however , that wonder is not a straight , sequential path with a set destination – “explanation runs toward the totality , but there absolutely ends” ( hepburn 140 ) . as such , the actual meeting with alexandre functions as a deflation , rather than an affirmation . alexandre sent the packages , manufacturing scenarios of wonder and mystery to play an experimental game with veronique , one he is using as research for a new story . this understandably upsets veronique , and while the two briefly reconcile and confess love to one another , veronique’s ecstasy collapses once again when alexandre creates a new marionette story about veronique and her double .


fortune and men 's eyes is a 1967 play and 1971 film written by john herbert about a young man 's experience in prison , exploring themes of homosexuality and sexual slavery .

the title comes from william shakespeare 's sonnet 29 , which begins with the line " when in disgrace with fortune and men 's eyes " .

it has been translated into 40 languages and produced in over 100 countries .

it is the most published canadian play , and won the dominion drama festival 's massey award in 1968 , which herbert refused , and the floyd s. chalmers canadian play award in 1975 .

the play was inspired in part by herbert 's own experience ; he spent four months imprisoned in a youth reformatory after having been convicted of wearing drag in 1947 .

the character of queenie in the play is an authorial self-insertion .

herbert encountered difficulties in getting the play staged .

after being rejected by several directors , herbert , on the recommendation of robertson davies , who frequented the university club at which herbert worked as a waiter , sent the script to douglas campbell at the stratford festival .

campbell accepted the play for the festival 's young actors workshop and assigned it to bruno gerussi to direct , but the stratford festival 's board of directors forbade the production from being staged publicly .

herbert sent a copy of the play to renowned canadian theatre critic nathan cohen , who replied , " i hope you understand that there 's not a chance in the world of this getting a professional production in canada .

i 've taken the liberty of sending it to a producer of my acquaintance in new york and , of course , promise nothing . "

cohen recommended the play to broadway press agent david rothenberg , who in turn recommended it to dustin hoffman .

hoffman workshopped the play at the new york actors studio in 1966 , taking the role of rocky , while jon voight played smitty .

in 1967 the play , produced by rothenberg , premiered off-broadway at the actors playhouse from 23 february 1967 to january 1968 .

reviews were initially mixed , and many reviewers were shocked by the subject matter .

reviewer herbert whittaker wrote in the globe and mail that the play was " the art of washing our dirty linen in the neighbor 's yard . "

cohen wrote in the toronto star that the play " lifts the carpet and shows what is underneath " , and that " it asks deeply disturbing questions about long-established personal and social assumptions .

it does not enrich our vision .

it undermines it . "

the panel discussions held in conjunction with the play led to the creation of the fortune society , a new york city-based advocacy and support organization for former prisoners .

the play toured to chicago , san francisco and montreal and ran for 15 weeks at the central library theatre in toronto .

in 1969 , the play was produced and directed by sal mineo at the coronet theatre in los angeles .

don johnson played the lead role of smitty , a young man sentenced to six months in prison for marijuana possession , who eventually becomes the sexual subordinate of rocky , another inmate .

michael greer played the role of queenie , smitty 's cellmate .

this production garnered more critical approval .

in the 1971 film , directed by harvey hart , wendell burton played smitty , michael greer reprised his role as queenie , and zooey hall played rocky .

it was filmed in quebec , canada .

fortune and men ' s eyes

with the headline : the stage : in revival , ' fortune and men ' s eyes ' .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing fortune and men ' s eyes near you .
fortune and men’s eyes runs at dancemakers , 9 trinity st . in the distillery district , from sept . 1 - 8 . tickets available at urltoken urltoken end
but that doesn’t mean that fortune and men’s eyes has lost its punch . far from it , especially in a production as intimate and in - your - face as this one plans to be .
when canadian john herbert’s searing prison drama , fortune and men’s eyes , first opened off - broadway in 1967 , the star’s nathan cohen praised it for asking “deeply disturbing questions about long - established personal and social assumptions , ” while the globe and mail’s herbert whittaker condemned it for practising “the art of washing our dirty linen in the neighbour’s yard . ”
director david galligan has updated john herbert’s “ fortune and men’s eyes” by a decade , to 1978 , and changed one of the characters from black to caucasian . the changes don’t add much , but they don’t hurt . and the 1967 play still packs a punch in this surehanded production .
cyrus faird , left , julian de zotti , centre , and alex fiddes , right , during a rehearsal of fortune and men ' s eyes . john herbert ' s controversial 1967 canadian play about gay life in prison , is receiving its first toronto revival in decades .
director david galligan has updated john herbert’s “fortune and men’s eyes” by a decade , to 1978 , and changed one of the characters from black to caucasian . the changes don’t add much , but they don’t hurt . and the 1967 play still packs a punch in this surehanded production . set in an unidentified prison , “fortune” follows the [ … ]
john herbert , the canadian playwright whose experiences in a reformatory inspired his influential play about prison homosexuality , ' ' fortune and men ' s eyes , ' ' died on friday at his home in toronto . he was 75 .
fair , and composer macdermot ' s ( hair ) score is totally wrong for what ' s on screen . songs ;
it ' s free
( michael greer ) ,
when rain touches summer
( macdermot , william dumareso , sung by leata galloway ) and
fortune and men ' s eyes
( macdermot , sung by ronnie dyson ) .
john herbert , the canadian playwright of the international classic gay prison drama fortune and men ' s eyes , speaks about the oppression gays faced after world war ii and how he came to write his play in the 1960s . david rothenberg , its new york producer , describes the fortune society which assists prisoners transition back into society .
the play , which opened at the actors playhouse in greenwich village , took its title from the words of a shakespearean sonnet : ' ' when in disgrace with fortune and men ' s eyes / i all alone beweep my outcast state . . . ' '
director david galligan has updated john herbert ' s
fortune and men ' s eyes
by a decade , to 1978 , and changed one of the characters from black to caucasian . the changes don ' t add much , but they don ' t hurt . and the 1967 play still packs a punch in this surehanded production .
although ' ' fortune and men ' s eyes ' ' received mixed reviews from the critics , it became a smash hit . performances were followed on some nights by freewheeling panel discussions that involved former convicts and were moderated by mr . rothenberg , who produced the play with mitchell nestor .
galligan’s updating seems mainly an excuse to use songs including gloria gaynor’s “i will survive” and foreigner’s “hot blooded” as ironic source music .
under the name john herbert , brundage wrote the play for which he is best known , fortune and men ' s eyes , in 1963 . an autobiographically based prison drama , it premiered in 1967 off - broadway and from there went on to international success still unmatched by any other canadian dramatic work .
a month after ' ' fortune and men ' s eyes ' ' opened , mr . herbert said in an interview , he was working as a waiter at the university club of toronto , when a judge in his 80 ' s called him over and said , ' ' you ' re getting a lot of attention in the papers . ' '
the fortune society’s mission is to support successful reentry from incarceration and promote alternatives to incarceration , thus strengthening the fabric of our communities .
fortune and men ' s eyes
populates a prison with a similarly imaginative selection except this time everyone is homosexual , so we ' re supposed to know immediately that the movie is about an important issue . it is about men who are kept behind prison bars and away from women , and subjected to degradation by the prison ' s homosexual ruling class . this time the story is mostly about the italian , who is named rocky , and the kid , who is named smitty .
perhaps the ultimate irony of
fortune and men ' s eyes
can be found in the response from the ( apparently ) largely swish audiences the film is attracting . assuming that the film was intended as a serious expose of prison conditions , it ' s a little unsettling to hear cheers for a gang rape . you can ' t have it both ways .
written in 1967 by john herbert , fortune and men ' s eyes has been produced in forty translations in over one hundred countries . two years before the 1969 stonewall riots in new york signaled the beginning of a militant gay liberation movement , fortune was the first play to dramatize in an often shocking manner society ' s treatment of homosexuals and inhumane prison conditions . under canadian criminal law , homosexual acts were punishable by up to fourteen years in prison until 1969 . herbert ' s play forced both theatre audiences and the theatre itself to acknowledge the existence and rights of homosexuals . fortune opened doors for other gay and lesbian playwrights to depict gays and lesbians on stage in a more open , realistic , non - stereotypical and non - caricatured manner .
' ' fortune and men ' s eyes , ' ' which opened off broadway in 1967 and ran for more than a year in the united states , was later produced in more than 60 countries . it not only drew attention to degradation and corruption within the prison system but also inspired the formation of the fortune society to heighten public awareness of the conditions for inmates and the problems they faced after their release . former prisoners turned to this organization for food and clothing , help in finding jobs and support from those who had already made the difficult readjustment to life outside .
when fortune and men ' s eyes premiered in centennial year 1967 , it shocked critics and audiences in both new york and canada . norman nadel , reviewing the play for the new york tribune , claimed the homosexual drama was so disgusting that the mention of someone vomiting in the prison ' s off - stage toilet came like a breath of spring . herbert whittaker , in the globe and mail , called the play
the art of washing our dirty linen in the neighbor ' s yard .
nathan cohen , in the toronto star
fortune won the dominion drama festival ' s massey award in 1968 , which brundage refused , and the chalmers outstanding play award in 1975 . brundage had little success with subsequent plays , but fortune remains one of the few true classics of the canadian theatre .
but herbert persisted in cross - dressing in prison , living the character of the rebellious
queenie
inmate he would create 16 years later in fortune and men ' s eyes . for the guelph reformatory ' s annual christmas show in 1947 , he secretly prepared a dramatic black evening dress with a piece of black satin twisted around his head like a parisian headdress to cover his shaven head , and sang a dietrich - like parody about love .
written and revised from 1963 to 1966 , fortune and men ' s eyes is set in a canadian prison for youth and deals with society ' s injustice towards gay people , the brutality and homosexuality within prisons , the corruption of police and guards , the education in crime for first offenders , and the painful need for friendship , affection and love between prisoners . as herbert himself has stated about the play ' s plea for the acceptance of human diversity ,
i do not believe that any community can learn to live with the many societies of the world unless it first learns to live with the many factions within itself .
everybody ? yeah . everybody in the entire prison is homosexual . that ' s one of the funny things about the prison . the other thing is that the characters apparently have unlimited access to all sorts of corridors and showers and places where you ' d think a well - run prison might have a guard or two . but that doesn ' t matter much , because
fortune and men ' s eyes
isn ' t a serious study of prison homosexuality ; it ' s a melodramatic soap opera that exploits its story and actors and ( especially ) the credibility of the audience .
after ' ' fortune and men ' s eyes , ' ' mr . herbert went on to write 16 more plays , but few were given professional productions and none had the same success . for the last 25 years , he was the artistic director of the maverick theater in toronto , of which he was a co - founder . his principal source of income was teaching at the three schools of art .
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de zotti’s character is first befriended , then later brutally used , by cyrus faird ’s character , rocky .
when in disgrace with fortune and men ' s eyes , i all alone beweep my outcast state , and trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries , and look upon myself and curse my fate , wishing me like to one more rich in hope , featured like him , like him with friends possessed , desiring this man ' s art , and that man ' s scope , with what i most enjoy contented least ; yet in these thoughts myself almost despising , haply i think on thee—and then my state , like to the lark at break of day arising from sullen earth sings hymns at heaven ' s gate ; for thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings , that then i scorn to change my state with kings .
twenty years after its first staging here , john herbert ' s ' ' fortune and men ' s eyes ' ' has been revived at the actors ' playhouse , where it had its first run . we have seen many plays , films and television programs about sexual power struggles in prisons since then , so the shock value of this story about a canadian boys ' reformatory has virtually disappeared - and that works to the benefit of the play . mr . herbert ' s four young inmates are much more compelling emotionally when their actions do not seem quite so astonishing as they once did . and the plot of the play seems both simpler and subtler .
fortune and men ' s eyes
( or ,
the boys in the band go to jail
) is yet another artfully disguised remake of those world war ii movies about platoons that had one of everything . you remember . there was an italian named rocky , a jew who wore glasses and made the big liberal speech about brotherhood , a guy from brooklyn , a rawboned farm boy , and a kid . every platoon had a kid , who was known as the kid .
playwright , born john herbert brundage in toronto , ontario , october 13 , 1926 ; died june 22 , 2001 , in toronto . bill glassco , who directed herbert ' s best - known play , fortune and men ' s eyes in 1969 , has called john herbert
the single most important figure of the decade
in the creation of toronto ' s alternate theatre of the 1960s . his mother was a high school teacher , who studied painting with arthur lismer , and encouraged john to paint , sculpt , and costume design . as a youth in toronto , herbert saw touring stars like bette davis and gloria swanson at the royal alexandra theatre , and was inspired by american films and actresses like greta garbo , marlene dietrich , and joan crawford .
fortune career advisor hanaa elfiky is an excellent source of inspiration for our participants . just a few years ag… urltoken
the twelve editions of fortune and men ' s eyes published by grove press in new york since 1967 have made it the most published canadian play . it won the 1975 chalmers award for best canadian play , and has been published in several canadian play anthologies ( in richard perkyns , ed . major plays of the canadian theatre 1934 - 1984 . toronto : irwin , 1984 ; in richard plant , ed . modern canadian drama . markham , ontario : penguin , 1984 ; and in jerry wasserman , ed . modern canadian plays , vancouver : talonbooks , 1985 , 1993 and 2000 .
it might be argued that the closer to the ’90s “fortune” is set , the less likely smitty is to be as naive as he’s initially presented . and would a prisonguard be making $ 50 a week in 1978 ?
herbert also sent a copy of the play to nathan cohen who felt that no theatre in canada would stage a public performance . in 1966 , cohen recommended fortune to new york producer david rothenberg who had just produced megan terry ' s internationally acclaimed anti - vietnam war play viet rock . rothenberg loved the play and passed it on to dustin hoffman who had made his new york acting debut in 1965 . hoffman , a member of the famous new york actors studio ( home of the naturalistic
method
style of acting ) was interested in the part of
rocky
in fortune and along with jon voight as
smitty
was among the first actors involved in the 1966 actors studio workshop of the play . workshop discussions were led by the actors studio head lee strasberg . three years before the 1969 stonewall riots and two years before the production of mart crowley ' s the boys in the band , strasberg believed the theatre hadn ' t dealt with homosexuality and prison life in an honest , non - caricatured manner . he thought fortune and men ' s eyes was a unique play that would open doors to a previously taboo subject and made herbert a life member of the actors studio .
in the 1940s it was illegal for a male to be dressed as a woman in public , a violation called
disguised by night .
herbert ' s feminine physical appearance made him look like a high - class fashion model when dressed as a woman . as a man , he was easily spotted as a homosexual and was frequently taunted and even physically attacked by straight men and the police . in the fall of 1947 , herbert was attacked by a group of young thugs who tried to rob him . when the police intervened , his attackers falsely claimed that herbert had solicited them for sex and testified to this effect in court . he was sentenced to four months imprisonment in the guelph reformatory , spending his 21st birthday in prison in october of 1947 . following his release in february of 1948 , he was again arrested in drag and imprisoned at the mimico reformatory for
gross indecency .
corporal punishment was still practiced in canadian prisons . herbert ' s experiences in jail ( he was beaten and raped in a gym storeroom at the guelph reformatory , and locked into an iron whipping machine with hip and ankle clamps and beaten on the buttocks by a guard wielding a piece of cowhide strap until he fainted at mimico ) provided him with the raw material for his drama fortune and men ' s eyes .
“we try to play that all of these characters want to be loved and that can be hard when there’s gang rape involved and a lot of really brutal racism . ”
only eighteen of shakespeare ' s plays were published separately in quarto editions during his lifetime ; a complete collection of his works did not appear until the publication of the first folio in 1623 , several years after his death . nonetheless , his contemporaries recognized shakespeare ' s achievements . francis meres cited
honey - tongued
shakespeare for his plays and poems in 1598 , and the chamberlain ' s men rose to become the leading dramatic company in london , installed as members of the royal household in 1603 .
it is a tribute to mr . herbert that , despite the flaws of this performance , you are reluctant to see it end . his play has not only survived , it has grown through the years . shakespeare in stir - fortune and men ' s eyes , by john herbert ; directed by edward ormond ; set design by jon pavlovsky , jeffrey carl and ken zito ; costumes by m . ricque williams . presented by stephen w . nebgen and mr . williams , in association with carl jaynes . at the actors ' playhouse , 100 seventh avenue south . queenie . . . edward ormond mona . . . will scheffer rocky . . . jon pavlovsky guard . . . carl jaynes smitty . . . drew murphy
herbert’s play had trouble getting on initially because of its content and treatment , until no less a personage than the late novelist robertson davies mentored herbert and suggested he give it to the stratford festival , where douglas campbell and bruno gerussi became its champions and organized a workshop .
the intersection of immigration and criminal law is a source of unjust punishment for many in the u . s . on the next… urltoken
the intersection of immigration and criminal law is a source of unjust punishment for many in the u . s . on the next… urltoken
not long after ' ' fortune and men ' s eyes ' ' opened , mr . herbert , who was visiting the united states , was told by a government official that he had to leave the country because of his status as an ex - convict . mr . rothenberg said that after spending seven months filling out forms to enable him to return , mr . herbert called an official in buffalo from his home in toronto . mr . herbert said he was a writer and wanted to go to chicago , where his play was opening after its new york run . mr . rothenberg said that mr . herbert was told , ' ' listen , prostitutes can ' t get in either , and some of them are pretty famous . ' '
in france , only a few years after the student riots of 1968 , the french - language production of fortune at the théâtre athenée 1971 - 72 became a cause célèbre protesting government censorship of the stage . at the play ' s opening night , the audience included luminaries such as jean - paul sartre , jean genet , melina mercuri , simone signoret and jeanne moreau . right - wing governments tried to close productions in turkey , argentina and south africa where fortune was mounted with a racially mixed cast .
michael gilliam’s lights are fine ; rick a . dominguez’s sound not so : though one of the characters plays with a boom - box , the music comes from the sky .
be . freedman , as an intellectual , is also outstanding , but the film ' s subject matter is so distasteful to most eyes that it failed to find a huge audience . the original director was jules schwerin , but he was replaced by harvey hart , and many scenes had to be re - shot . technical credits are only
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to this day , the play continues to affect audiences in countries where prison reform and discrimination against gay people are still strong public issues . in 1999 fortune ran for five months in mexico city , produced by the mexican authors society .
in 1594 , shakespeare joined the lord chamberlain ' s company of actors , the most popular of the companies acting at court . in 1599 shakespeare joined a group of chamberlain ' s men that would form a syndicate to build and operate a new playhouse : the globe , which became the most famous theater of its time . with his share of the income from the globe , shakespeare was able to purchase new place , his home in stratford .
set in an unidentified prison , “ fortune ” follows the arrival of fresh young smitty and his debasement at the hands of his cellmates . the three are as stereotyped as the village people : queenie’s a flamboyant fellow whose repertoire of impersonations includes what seems to be every femme star of the ‘ 30s ; rocky is a new york street tough ; and mona ( for “mona lisa” ) is a quiet , submissive man whose relationship to the others changes throughout the play’s 2 1 / 2 - month time frame .
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other plays include : born of medusa ' s blood ( 1972 ) , omphale and the hero ( forest hill chamber theatre , toronto , 1974 ) , and some angry summer songs ( 1976 - four short works ) .
following rejections by george luscombe , artistic director of toronto workshop productions / twp , and canadian director george mccowan , herbert submitted an early version of fortune to douglas campbell at the stratford festival . campbell accepted the play for the festival ' s 1965 young actors ' workshop and assigned bruno gerussi to direct the play . richard monette , the current stratford festival artistic director , was cast as the androgynous
mona .
but because of the play ' s homosexual subject matter , the stratford board of directors forbade the single planned public performance , and it was performed privately for the stratford actors .
john herbert has also danced professionally , and lectured at ryerson , glendon college , york university , and the university of toronto . he has also given writing and acting workshops .
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within the past year , the city government ' s “jails to jobs initiative , ” has mobilized . . .
the canadian theatre encyclopedia web site was originally conceived and developed in 1996 by gaetan charlebois—theatre critic , playwright , and actor .
“you can’t be detached , ” says dezotti . “you’re right in the middle of the s - - - and believe me , it comes home with me a lot . ”
employment after incarceration reduces recidivism by 22 % . @ nycmayor ' s jails to jobs initiative aims to provide tran… urltoken
awakening 3 / 3 - 16yo boy awakens to being gay by falling for girlfriend ' s father . nuanced . superb
queenie , rocky and mona remain pretty much the same people from beginning to end ; steven walter - kirk and alex d’andrea are fine , with the former getting all of the good lines ; david packer’s performance as mona is the most subtle of the bunch and , in many ways , the most effective .
produced by david rothenberg , fortune premiered off - broadway at the actors playhouse on february 23 , 1967 and ran until january of 1968 , attracting other gay playwrights such as tennessee williams and noel coward to performances . the play toured to chicago and san francisco , was the first production to play the converted old stock exchange building in montreal ( the current centaur theatre ) and ran for fifteen weeks at the central library theatre in toronto . saul mineo remounted the play in los angeles in 1969 , transferring the production to new york where it ran another nine months . new productions were mounted in sweden , turkey , israel , south africa and london where charles marowitz launched his avant - garde open space company with a nine - month run of fortune in 1968 .
shakespeare wrote more than thirty plays . these are usually divided into four categories : histories , comedies , tragedies , and romances . his earliest plays were primarily comedies and histories such as henry vi and the comedy of errors , but in 1596 , shakespeare wrote romeo and juliet , his second tragedy , and over the next dozen years he would return to the form , writing the plays for which he is now best known : julius caesar , hamlet , othello , king lear , macbeth , and antony and cleopatra . in his final years , shakespeare turned to the romantic with cymbeline , a winter ' s tale , and the tempest .
by the mid - 1970s , the play had received more than 400 productions around the world and a chalmers award for best canadian play after its first revival at toronto’s phoenix theatre in 1975 .
“we’re exploring the dark side here , ” agrees fiddes . “there’s a lot of heavy stuff that stays with me and i keep it inside me when i leave rehearsal , which isn’t always good . ”
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the revelation of brutality behind bars is no longer the shocker it was in 1967 because there’s a whole generation out there who “grew up on oz , ” in dezotti’s words , referencing the cable tv sensation that blew the lid off the prison system from 1996 - 2003 .
deborah raymond and dorian vernacchio have designed an impressive prison cell , with running water and an ominously clanging door ; the theater even smells of disinfectant .
that’s how julian dezotti , who plays the part of the innocent , soon - to - be - broken newcomer smitty , encountered it .
while shakespeare was regarded as the foremost dramatist of his time , evidence indicates that both he and his contemporaries looked to poetry , not playwriting , for enduring fame . shakespeare ' s sonnets were composed between 1593 and 1601 , though not published until 1609 . that edition , the sonnets of shakespeare , consists of 154 sonnets , all written in the form of three quatrains and a couplet that is now recognized as shakespearean . the sonnets fall into two groups : sonnets 1 - 126 , addressed to a beloved friend , a handsome and noble young man , and sonnets 127 - 152 , to a malignant but fascinating
dark lady ,
who the poet loves in spite of himself . nearly all of shakespeare ' s sonnets examine the inevitable decay of time , and the immortalization of beauty and love in poetry .
little is known about shakespeare ' s activities between 1585 and 1592 . robert greene ' s a groatsworth of wit alludes to him as an actor and playwright . shakespeare may have taught at school during this period , but it seems more probable that shortly after 1585 he went to london to begin his apprenticeship as an actor . due to the plague , the london theaters were often closed between june 1592 and april 1594 . during that period , shakespeare probably had some income from his patron , henry wriothesley , earl of southampton , to whom he dedicated his first two poems , venus and adonis ( 1593 ) and the rape of lucrece ( 1594 ) . the former was a long narrative poem depicting the rejection of venus by adonis , his death , and the consequent disappearance of beauty from the world . despite conservative objections to the poem ' s glorification of sensuality , it was immensely popular and was reprinted six times during the nine years following its publication .
john herbert brundage , pen name john herbert , writer and theatre director ( b at toronto 13 oct 1926 , d at toronto 22 june 2001 ) . after studying at toronto ' s new play society school for drama and the national ballet school 1955 - 60 , brundage founded and ran 3 pioneering alternate theatres in toronto , including the garret ( 1965 - 70 ) .
she survives him , as do four other sisters , mary gordius , grace gannett , phyllis stratton and faye forrell , and a brother , claude brundage .
the encyclopedia collects and disseminates information on plays , playwrights and theatre practitioners . it does not respond to requests for information , auditions , bookings , or tickets .
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the play ' s dramatic tension springs from the role reversals of the two macho inmates , rocky and smitty . mr . pavlovsky ' s rocky has seen too many james cagney films ; his final fall is a mere physical subjugation when it ought to be a moral defeat brought on by his cellmates ' growing understanding of him , a knowledge that pummels him harder than fists .
mr . murphy is appealing as a smitty who learns too much too quickly and too painfully . but the last scene requires more subtlety than this actor has yet . he lets us feel smitty ' s surprise at his changing feelings about the shy boy called mona , but he betrays no awareness that the violence mona suffers at the end came from smitty ' s own cowardice .
basically the story of a man forced to finally see the injustice around him . riley’s movie is designed to do the same thing to you . …
that’s a painful reminder of how fickle fame can be in the world of theatre , turning a once - hot property into a fading historical footnote .
although a lot of prison films allude to homosexuality very few actually take it as the main theme . jean genet ' s
un chant d ' amour
isn ' t just the best of them but arguably the most poetic gay movie ever made . you certainly couldn ' t say the same for harvey hart ' s film of john herbert ' s play . i ' ve never seen it on stage but if it was anything like this i ' m glad i didn ' t . this is an appallingly caricatured account of men ' forced ' together by circumstance with the emphasis very clearly on sex . if it were better acted it might have been tolerable but the largely unknown cast can do nothing with the mediocre material . in 1971 this might have seemed ' daring ' ; now it just seems crude and tasteless .
the young , naive smitty is sent to prison for six months ; cathy , his girlfriend , watches as he disappears behind the bars and barbed wire . he ' s assigned a cell with queenie , a balls - out drag queen , rocky , a quiet but cocky con , and mona , a young gay man who ministers to rocky . some intense shit goes down . starring wendell burton and michael greer .
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roger ebert ' s speech on empathy for the
11th hour
series on april 9th , 1994 , being republished here in honor of his birthday june 18 .
that’s something the cast all agree on . working on intense material in a compact , brief rehearsal period may do wonders for momentum , but it has its down side .
only will scheffer as mona successfully imagines himself into a teen - ager brutally sophisticated by the bigotry and injustice of others . mona ' s growth - from the almost mute victim of the opening to the tortured but wise and surviving victim at the end , who recites the shakespearean sonnet from which the play derives its name to a shocked smitty - is beautifully realized .
and then it vanished , except on the reading lists of canadian theatre courses across the country .
but the festival board blocked all plans for a public reading and the script wound up in the hand of the star’s cohen , who sagely realized that , at that time , a play that scandalous could only open in toronto after getting the blessing of a new york production .
the play , which was made into a film in 1975 , dealt with the brutality of prison . it included a vivid discussion of how new prisoners were forcibly initiated into homosexuality . while still a teenager , mr . herbert had served a six - month sentence in an ontario reformatory after some men he had accused of robbing him said he had solicited sex .
sodomy by hall , who wants to be his protector , or run the risk of being raped by everyone else . he chooses hall , and , by the time the picture is over , he ' s as prison - savvy as all the others and doesn ' t at all resemble the sweet , naive young man who entered in reel one . the film is based on a stage
while working in eaton ' s advertising office in 1944 , at the age of 18 he
passed
as a woman at an international fashion show in toronto . by this time he was
madly in love with drag
and wore women ' s clothing in public . as he writes in his unpublished autobiography , writing in the sand , he and his roommate dene
spent our money , earned at ordinary daytime jobs , on black dresses , smoky nylon stockings , sling - back suede shoes with open toes and sometimes ankle - straps , halfway - to - the - elbow gloves ( yes , gloves were de rigeur for women then ) , large - brimmed or pillbox hats , usually black but trimmed with veils or huge silk tea - roses , swing back shorty coats ( yes , in black ) , large purses and assorted costume jewelry from woolworths , usually long strands of fake pearls or rhinestone chokers , glass and brass rings and chiffon scarves .
at the age of twenty , herbert and dene were physically incarnating the fantasy life of the film stars they admired on screen .
our faces were pure ' hollywood ' and our long finger nails brilliant as flawless rubies .
“a lot of the references and slang are now outdated , but the themes of the play — injustice , homophobia and how love survives in such a terrible place — are all still as true as ever . ”
the academy of american poets is the largest membership - based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting american poets . for over three generations , the academy has connected millions of people to great poetry through programs such as national poetry month , the largest literary celebration in the world ; poets . org , the academy’s popular website ; american poets , a biannual literary journal ; and an annual series of poetry readings and special events . since its founding , the academy has awarded more money to poets than any other organization .
play that featured male nudity and brutal scenes and was a plea for prison reform . the finished product , however , is merely tawdry . michael greer is excellent as a screaming queen . he did this once before in the gay deceivers and is in danger of being type - cast , no matter how good an actor he can
william shakespeare , regarded as the foremost dramatist of his time , wrote more than thirty plays and more than one hundred sonnets , all written in the form of three quatrains and a couplet that is now recognized as shakespearean .
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mr . herbert ' s full name was john herbert brundage . he was born in toronto . his father , claude , once a professional athlete , lost his money in the depression . mr . herbert said he grew up in poverty in a house that was nevertheless filled with literature , from the ancient greeks to shakespeare and stevenson .
“people don’t fail the system . the system fails the people , ” says david coomber , who plays mona , the sensitive survivor of the script’s troubled quartet . “this play shows you how prison brings out the darkest parts of all of us . we’ve all turned into caged animals , working instinctively and fighting for our own skins . ”
“you put yourself in the environment of a jail cell with us . four guys confined without any choice , any freedom , any way to live our own lives , ” is how fiddes describes the situation . “you get in a place like this where there’s a lack of any real human connection and it takes its toll on you . ”
lots of good lines go to queenie , and they ' re pretty good indeed but they belong in a light comedy . high camp and sodomy somehow don ' t seem to be compatible aspects of the same subject . and just when we ' re getting used to queenie , he goes through an unbelievable character change , exposing himself at the annual christmas show . not queenie !
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william shakespeare was born on april 23 , 1564 , in stratford - upon - avon . the son of john shakespeare and mary arden , he was probably educated at the king edward vi grammar school in stratford , where he learned latin and a little greek and read the roman dramatists . at eighteen , he married anne hathaway , a woman seven or eight years his senior . together they raised two daughters : susanna , who was born in 1583 , and judith ( whose twin brother died in boyhood ) , born in 1585 .
those advantages are not always realized in this version , which at times seems nostalgic for the old shock . one wonders , for instance , whether the rape at the end of the first scene would not be more menacing if it were played less explicitly and whether the atmosphere in the reformatory would not be more sinister if the actors were more physically restrained than they are here . the author ' s compassionate understanding of these characters and his sense of hurt ( the story is at least partly autobiographical ) are sometimes lost .
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but despite the pressure , the tension , the violence and hatred being repeated every day , the company still find the play strangely elevating .
based on the controversial late 60s off - broadway play ( that featured sal mineo [ in one of his last acting roles ] and [ a pre - stardom ] don johnson ) , the play ' s writer john herbert also wrote the script for the more mainstream ( but still edgy ) canadian film version , which has young , naive pothead smith / smitty ( wendell burton [ go ask alice , heat { 1986 } ] ) going to prison . once there , he shares a jail cell with the likes of crossdressing gay queenie ( [ the mtv real world ' s puck { david rainey } looking michael greer [ the gay deceivers , the rose ] ) , his pal jenn / mona lisa ( david freedman ) , and the cunning rocky ( zooey hall [ i dismeber mama ] ) , with smitty quickly learning that the prison is chock full of cold hearted , murderous guards and fellow male rape intended inmates , who nab jenn ( in place of smitty [ after rocky quickly rescues him ] ) , drag him to an open cellroom , and explicit rape him in an…
roger ebert was born on this day in 1942 , and died a little over five years ago . i owe a good part of my success…
in his poems and plays , shakespeare invented thousands of words , often combining or contorting latin , french , and native roots . his impressive expansion of the english language , according to the oxford english dictionary , includes such words as : arch - villain , birthplace , bloodsucking , courtship , dewdrop , downstairs , fanged , heartsore , hunchbacked , leapfrog , misquote , pageantry , radiance , schoolboy , stillborn , watchdog , and zany .
government gave assistance to the film . this is hard to believe , because the life depicted in the prison is so harsh and terrifying that it reflects poorly on the canadian government . burton is arrested for pot possession and sent to an absolute hell - hole where he must either submit to regular
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i ' m not entirely sure what to think of this movie . it ' s all at once tone - deaf and shockingly bold . i did some googling about it after watching and realized it was actually based on quite an important play . having not seen the play , i can ' t help but think something crucial is missing in translation here . . . any message about gay rights went over my head , unless they ' re just referring to the last 10 minutes ? as it is , this felt more like an exploitation movie than it did any sort of social commentary .
john herbert brundage , pen name john herbert , writer and theatre director ( b at toronto 13 oct 1926 , d at toronto 22 june 2001 ) .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
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while william shakespeare’s reputation is based primarily on his plays , he became famous first as a poet . with the partial exception of the sonnets ( 1609 ) , quarried since the early 19th century for autobiographical secrets allegedly encoded in them , the nondramatic writings have traditionally been pushed . . .
mr . herbert said he wanted to think it over , and the next morning learned that his attackers had filed charges against him , leading to his conviction .
sometime after 1612 , shakespeare retired from the stage and returned to his home in stratford . he drew up his will in january of 1616 , which included his famous bequest to his wife of his
second best bed .
he died on april 23 , 1616 , and was buried two days later at stratford church .
lifts the carpet and shows what is underneath .
writing during the patriotism and national euphoria of centennial year 1967 , cohen declared that the play presented
a truly critical challenge .
it asks deeply disturbing questions about long - established personal and social assumptions . it does not enrich our vision . it undermines it .
three years later cohen added ,
what was really shocking was that the author obviously was writing from his own experience .
covering the mgm film adaptation of
underwood and packer bog down a bit during an uncharacteristically talky section of act ii , but that long stretch of speechifying dialogue would be difficult for anyone to deliver .
we employ a “one - stop - shop” model of service provision , offering in - house services to over 7 , 000 individuals with justice involvement and advocate for alternatives to incarceration .
all of the tough talk and even tougher social messages that herbert put into the play are still with us as , unfortunately , are the flaws in how our prisons are run .
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“i’d read the play in high school and been moved by it , ” he recalls , “but then i forgot about it until stefan asked me to take a part in this production .
for starters , we can ' t believe the changes wendell burton has to go through in the character of smitty . he starts out as the meek little boy - man we remember from
the sterile cuckoo ,
but by the end of the movie he has actually beaten up rocky and gone through a complete character reversal . now he ' s the tough barn boss , trying to brutalize the quiet little jewish intellectual who used to be his friend ( and who , instead of a liberal speech , recites the title sonnet from shakespeare ) . burton doesn ' t convince us of this character change , but maybe nobody could . the characters are manipulated with all the cold efficiency of an especially badly made well - made play .
its portrait of prison life , with homosexual rape , abusive authority and a constant struggle to survive as everyday occurrences , made it a ticking time bomb onstage , especially in those pre - stonewall days .
creative : sets , deborah raymond and dorian vernacchio ; lighting , michael gilliam ; costumes , reve richards ; sound , rick a . dominguez . opened may 16 , 1992 ; reviewed , june 11 , 1992 .
“herbert has found a way for all of us to keep some sort of internal dignity , ” concludes coomber , “and part of that is due to the fact that the play is still saying very important things .
after his release he did a series of odd jobs across the continent before settling in toronto in 1955 . he studied at the new play society ( 1956 - 9 ) before founding and operating three separate alternative houses in toronto .
the kid , who is straight , gets a six - month sentence and winds up in the same cell with rocky , and also with queenie , who is a drag queen among other things . rocky explains the system : unless the kid places himself under the protection of a regular old man ( rocky , say ) who has a place in the power structure , he ' ll be the victim of gang rape by everybody else in the cell block .
he said the judge continued : ' ' tell me , people have written plays about prisons , and people have written plays about ho - mo - sex - yew - ality . why would you have to put them together ? ' '
mr . herbert took to the road and went west , then to montreal , where he became interested in plays . he returned to his hometown , where one of his sisters , nana brundage , was involved in the theater . in 1960 they founded the garret theater .
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he left high school in his last year to become an artist . ' ' i was very interested in costume , ' ' he said . he was employed for a while by an advertising agency and then by the department store where he was working at the time of his arrest .
this was released after the boys in the band , so much of the exploitation of the homosexual subject matter had already been seen , thereby causing this picture to be less well - received than the producers hoped . it takes place in a canadian prison , and our information is that the canadian
review : this was released after the boys in the band , so much of the exploitation of the homosexual subject matter had already been seen , thereby causing this picture to be less well - received than the producers hoped . it takes place in a canadian prison , and our i… ( more )
edward ormond , the director , who also takes the role of queenie , has more stage experience than anyone else in this cast and occasionally his outrageous drag queen threatens to sweep the other characters off the stage . in fact , his unmoderated flamboyance deprives queenie of our sympathy at the end , when the collapse of all his manipulative schemes ought to be poignant . part of the problem is that mr . ormond , like jon pavlovsky as rocky and drew murphy as smitty , acts like someone who is closer to 30 years old than 20 . these people are supposed to be youths whose surface sophistication has been forced on them .