La double vie de Veronique

Plot synopsis:
In Poland in 1968, a little girl is shown the stars in the winter sky by her mother, who identifies the Christmas Eve star. In France, a little girl is shown one of the first leaves of spring by her mother, who points out the fine veins running through.
In Poland in 1990, a young Polish woman named Weronika (Irène Jacob) is singing at an outdoor concert with her choir when a sudden downpour causes the singers to rush for cover. Weronika alone continues to hold the last note while the rain falls on her smiling face. After the concert, Weronika meets her boyfriend, Antek (Jerzy Gudejko), and they go to his apartment to make love. The next day she asks her father to tell Antek she is leaving to be with her sick aunt in Kraków. She tells him that lately she feels she's not alone in the world.
Weronika travels to Kraków by train looking out at the passing landscape through a small clear rubber ball. At her aunt's house, Weronika talks about her boyfriend, then meets a friend at a concert rehearsal. As the choir rehearses, Weronika, who is watching offstage, accompanies them in a beautiful high soprano voice. Afterwards, the musical director asks her to audition. Overjoyed, Weronika rushes home with the sheet music. On the way, she passes through Main Market Square, where a protest rally is in progress. One protester runs into her, causing her to drop her music folder. After retrieving the sheet music, Weronika notices a French tourist taking photos of the protestors—a young woman who looks exactly like her. Weronika smiles as she watches her double board the tourist bus that soon pulls away.
At the audition, Weronika's singing impresses the musical director and conductor, and she is later told that she won the audition. The next day, while on a trolley studying the score, Weronika notices her boyfriend Antek following on his motorbike. When they talk, she apologizes for not returning his calls, and Antek tells her he loves her. Later, while getting dressed for the concert, Weronika presses her face against a window and sees an old woman with shopping bags slowly making her way along the street. That night during the concert, while singing a solo part, Weronika collapses onstage and dies—her spirit passing over the audience.
In Paris that day, a young French woman named Véronique (Irène Jacob), after making love with her former boyfriend, is overwhelmed with sadness, as if she were grieving. The next day, at the school where she teaches music, Véronique attends a marionette performance with her class. During the performance—a story about a ballet dancer who breaks her leg and then turns into a butterfly—Véronique watches the puppeteer controlling the marionettes. Back in her classroom, she leads her class in a musical piece by an eighteenth-century composer, Van den Budenmayer—the same piece performed by Weronika when she died. That night while driving home, she sees the puppeteer at a traffic light motioning to her not to light the wrong end of her cigarette. Later she is awakened by a phone call with no one speaking, but in the background she hears a choir singing the music of Van den Budenmayer.
The next day, Véronique drives to her father's house where she reveals she is in love with someone she doesn't know, and that recently she felt she was alone—that someone was gone from her life. Back in Paris, Véronique receives a mysterious letter containing a shoelace which she throws away. That night she is awakened by a strange light reflecting from a neighbor's mirror. Véronique retrieves the mysterious shoelace, and later while contemplating her recent EKG graph, she holds the shoestring across the graph paper in a straight line, alluding to a EKG showing no activity.
Véronique learns that the puppeteer is a children's book author named Alexandre Fabbri (Philippe Volter), whose marionette story was based on his book Libellule & Papillon. One of his other books is about a shoelace. In the coming days, Véronique reads several of Alexandre's books. When Véronique visits her father, he gives her a package addressed to her containing a cassette tape. When she's alone, she listens to the mysterious recording of a typewriter, footsteps, a door opening, a train station, and a fragment of music by Van den Budenmayer. There are also sounds of a car accident and explosion. The postage stamp on the envelope leads Véronique to a Gare Saint-Lazare train station cafe where she believes the cassette recording was made. There she sees Alexandre sitting by himself, as if waiting for her. He tells her he's been waiting for her for two days, that he's working on a new book, and that this was a kind of experiment to see if she would come to him. Angered at being manipulated, Véronique leaves and takes a taxi to a nearby hotel, After checking in, she sees Alexandre, who apparently ran after the taxi. He asks for her forgiveness, and she brings him up to her room, where they both fall asleep. During the night, he wakes her up and tells her he loves her, and they make love.
The next morning she tells him, "All my life I've felt like I was here and somewhere else at the same time." While looking at a proof sheet of photos taken on Véronique's recent trip to Poland, Alexandre notices what he thinks is a photo of Véronique, but she assures him it is not her, that she in fact took the photo—of a young Polish woman carrying a music folder. Véronique crumples the proof sheet and breaks down in tears. Alexandre comforts her and they make love again. Later at his apartment, Véronique sees Alexandre working on a new marionette with her image. When asked about the purpose of a second identical marionette, Alexandre explains, "I handle them a lot when I perform. They get damaged easily." He shows her how to work the one marionette while the double lays lifeless on the table.
Some time later, Alexandre reads his new book to Véronique about two women, born the same day in different cities, who have a mysterious connection. Later that day, Véronique arrives at her father's house, stops at the front gate, and reaches out and touches an old tree. Her father, who is inside the house, seems to sense this without seeing it.

Tags: psychedelic, mystery, depressing

Review:
There are rumors of a release in 2005, but for fans of movies like Amélie hungry for something with a little more depth, The Double Life of Véronique comes most highly recommended -- even if you have to search high and low for a copy on VHS..
Just like in Trois Couleurs Bleu, the music of La Double vie de Véronique is very indivisible from the film: the visual and the auditive form a united whole and also elements of it are directly part of the story.
And when it comes to music made for film, Zbigniew Preisner's powerful score for this one is as good as it gets.When there is little dialogue, it is not just the images and expressions on Irène Jacob's face that tells the story, but also the powerful strains of music intermingled with it.Even with just these elements in place, it would be a movie worth seeing, though obviously a narrative based in little extent on dialogue and with less emphasis on a clear-cut story than your average American movie is unfortunately lost on some of the earlier commentators.And even this seemingly sparingly laid out narrative reveals itself to the careful watcher to be a rich tapestry of symbols, metaphors and hidden meanings.
Kiéslowski, just as in his other movies, demands participation of the viewer, and the one who expects passive entertainment has found the wrong film to watch.Krzysztof never liked discussing meaning when it came to his movies, but liked keeping that up to the viewers, and few other directors have ever been able to lay out more food for thought and fruitful interpretation than him.I saw the Three Colours trilogy before seeing Véronique, and the many similarities, both musical and in visual narrative, makes it feel like it almost belongs together with those three to form a quartet.
Or it may be that a valued filmmaker has died and I know there is only so much to see new and I want to pace it through my life.Kieslowski is something of a demigod in my film world.
Irene Jacob, the streets of France and Poland, the editing, the love scenes, the plastic ball reflections, and especially the music all are so beautiful that actually made me shivered and stunned.Kieslowski's in another world now.
I think the film is more accessible for european viewers, the same way Dawn by law might be for american viewers (I can´t bear that pretentious american underground movies at all, with cool men swearing all the time, trying to be funny...
The film evokes the idea that gifted people such this soprano singer have a spare part somewhere in the world, the same way the puppetier has a spare marionette for the one he uses most.God is not mentioned but the scenes are revealing: Veronique caresses the bark of a thick tree in the very last scene, which could signify her real father as well, or just the idea of fatherhood.The music is ten out of ten, if you feel nothing while listening to Preisner´s masterpiece, you´d better not say you´re sensitive anymore.
Director Kieslowski sets up the odd dreamlike atmosphere right from the start, using mirror reflections and odd camera distortions to show us the bizarre way that Veronique/Veronika sees the world around her.
The problem this creates is that it takes away any real connection we have with the characters, we never really feel anything for them or are even that concerned for their outcomes, Kieslowski moves his actors around his "stage" in the same way the marionettes are manipulated in the film, but the film works on such a subtly hypnotic level I don't think that Kieslowski ever wanted us to feel part of this world.
Kieslowski follows Veronique/Veronika through Paris and Poland, intimately probing her with close, hand-held camera, the cinema-verite effect of this making the viewer feel almost like a voyeur, following the women's every movements and encounters.
Much of this is an adoration of French actress Iréne Jacob by Director Krzysztof Kieslowski; in a sense it is a homage to her, one of the most beautiful actresses of our time and one of the most talented.
And such a beautiful dream.An actress playing the character twice in a slightly different way has occurred in at least two other films in the nineties: there was Patricia Arquette in David Lynch's Lost Highway (1997) and Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding Doors (1998).
It's an appealing venture for an actress of course and when the actress is as talented as these three are, for the audience as well.Note that as Weronika/Véronique is in two worlds, Poland and France, so too has always been Kieslowski himself in his real life.
The movies in his Polish/French trilogy, Blue, White, and Red, are finely tuned, sensitive, imaginative dramas that use mystery, music, psychology and visual fluidity to immerse you in another world that is beguiling and fascinating.That's exactly what goes on here.
And into the world (or worlds) of the lead characters, both played by Irene Jacob, a classic kind of restrained French (French-Swiss) actress with a limited range, but within that range she has penetrating beauty and a moving, melancholic aura for the camera, which lingers on her face through much of the movie.
The allegories of 1980s Europe, splintering under Communism's last few years, have been written about a lot (the Polish Weronika gives herself to her music and dies for it, trapped somehow, the French Veronique is free to reject her talent, travel, and yet, ultimately, end up a puppet to her personal weakness).
(Note here that he again makes the individual's inner needs more important than the greater politics.) The French Veronique is free to be hedonistic, the Polish version cannot quite do that, though you feel her struggle with what to do with her life as a singer.All of this is obviously impressive.
I think it would help to see this film before the Three Colors trilogy, because they are better movies, especially "Blue" and "Red." I have seen "Red" several times, and it also stars Jacob, and I love it completely still.
"The Double Life of Veronique" is also focusing on the connection made between two people like Kieslowski's Three Colors trilogy or his heaven,hell and Purgatory.But it is not about two people with a strong bond or two twins.The two girls are not merely soul mates,they're two versions of the same person.Like an old belief that after we die, our body will appear in different circumstances and live a new life.(in here they live two different life simultaneously).The power of music in Kieslowski's film is inevitable.The scenes are not significant by themselves,the impact of the ideas and images with the powerful music make the film special.Kieslowski well used colors and camera filters to create an ethereal atmosphere which was very helpful in creating the films sense .I think the music and Irène Jacob performance were the most outstanding pieces of the film.The central question of the film is "Is it just a matter of chance that one thinks and acts as one does?..Is there something as free will?"...It is a question of our lives too..
Such themes could be messed around,  but in the hands of such talented people, these so-called "irrationalities" are brought to life with beauty, subtlety and intelligence.The music is amazing, the cinematography is stunning and Irene Jacob is wonderful.
If you like the Trois Couleurs trilogy, you'll surely love this too and maybe even feel like you've returned home, to the tree, to life, to the beginning - Kieslowski had the ability to move us all in such ways.
In fact, she felt a pain at the moment that Weronika died.The Double Life is a beautiful looking film, not just because of Irene Jacob's perfect breasts.
Visually, it shares a few things in common with the Colors Trilogy, and Irène Jacob (Veronique and Veronika) was actually the main character in Red. Her acting is extremely good in both films, and the mood she creates in this one is understated, but incredibly graceful.
All things considered, « The double life of Véronique » looks like an inexhaustible hymn to the life and to the capacity of regeneration peculiar to our vital tissues after an indirect experience of death, thank to the discovery of the absolute love, impalpable like the atmosphere that surrounds the whole story, unlikely and ethereal at the same time, sublimed by strange relations referring to subtle Kieslowskian metaphors always on the look-out.
And it is here, IMHO, that the film fails: I couldn't really believe the "metaphor" of two women being the same, at the same time, one feeling like the other, or one following the other's story.
Along the way are some intriguing, teasing suggestions of several more-then-coincidental similarities between the two women, but the effect is not unlike watching a film where every third scene is missing, and because the burden of meaning is placed entirely on the viewer it will likely infuriate anyone expecting a more coherent story..
Extremely absorbing movie, beautiful pictures, Irene Jacob takes us into a thrilling game about identity, congeniality of souls and what is important in life.
The film tells the story of two identical-looking women, the Polish Veronika and the French Veronique, who seem to be aware of each other in some way, but who have never met.
The radiantly beautiful Irene Jacob plays the double role of the title characters, and she is brilliant; the film doesn't give her very much dialog, but she communicates volumes with her facial expressions and body language.
The cinematography is gorgeous, with most of the film shot through amber-colored filters of one form or another, essentially eliminating the color blue from the movie and giving everything a slightly distant look.After seeing Kieslowski's three subsequent movies, his wonderful "Three Colors" trilogy, it seemed to me that "Veronique" was almost intended to be a prequel to them, with scenes in each movie alluding to scenes in the others.
(In fact, some reviewers simply have it wrong - e.g., although the puppeteer is initially shown as manipulative, within five minutes, the main character is saying that she's always loved him - it is she, not he, who empties the contents of her purse when he says he wishes to know all about her).The movie is like a poem with many beautiful images and no point - except the myriad of "meanings" that different readers will impart to it.
kieslowski is known for creating films that ask questions, rather than make statements and the double life of veronique is no exception.
Two exact look-alikes, the Polish Weronika and the French Véronique, inhabit the world of Krzysztof Kieslowski's memorable The Double Life of Véronique.
By its very nature, the story defies rational explanation and Kieslowski does not offer any, but the premise suggests that the separate self is an illusion, a projection of mind rather than an inherent expression of ultimate reality.Shot in Krakow, Poland and Paris, France, the film is suffused with the stunning cinematography of Slawomir Idziak and a sublime score by Zbigniew Preisner beginning with the song she sung by Weronica at her debut concert in Krakow.
The film is propelled by the emotions Véronique is experiencing: a strange feeling of being alone in a suddenly uncertain world and an unexplained sense of loss.The mystery deepens when she begins to receive enigmatic packages in the mail from Alexandre (Philippe Volter), a puppeteer whose exquisite marionette performance she has seen and whose gifts are tied to objects from his children's stories.
Krzysztof Kieslowski's direction uses light and shadow, and the atmospheric music, make "Double Life" a work of art.
This film has such a richness that it's enjoyable to watch it over and over again, each time I could discover some thing new about music (which is great), character etc.
After experiencing a feeling of not being alone which she is instigated to act upon, Weronika travels to Krakow where her aunt lives and when she gets there she notices a woman whom she has never seen before and who bears a striking resemblance to herself.Distinctly and subtly directed by Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski, this finely tuned fictional tale which is narrated mostly from the two main character's point of view, draws a virtuous portrayal of the life of a Polish woman named Weronika and a French woman named Veroniqué who are identical and who one day coincidentally or determined by destiny crosses paths.
While notable for it's naturalistic and atmospheric milieu depictions, distinct production design by production designer Patrice Mercier, cinematography by polish cinematographer Slawomir Idziak, costume design by costume designers Laurence Brignon, Claudy Fellous and Elzbieta Radke, fine editing by French film editor Jacques Witta and use of colors and light, this character-driven and narrative-driven story where the director could focus more on the cinematic aspects of his film and less on the political which was characteristic in many of his previous productions due to the political situation in his country, depicts two interrelated and empathic studies of character and contains a great score by Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner.This dramatic, literary, somewhat surreal, romantic and humanistic drama from the early 1990s about identity and faith which is the last feature film Krzysztof Kieslowski made before ending his career with the Three Colours trilogy which consisted of "Blue" (1993), "White" (1994) and "Red" (1994) and which is set in the capital city of France and the capital city of Poland in the early 1990s and where a music teacher for children named Veroniqué who lives in France experiences a feeling of being alone, is impelled and reinforced by it's brilliant narrative structure, substantial character development, subtle continuity, interrelated stories, endearing characters, poetic scenes and the memorable acting performance by French actress Irène Jacob.
Later, at her classroom, she leads her students in a classical piece by the same composer that Weronika was performing when she died.,Veronique falls in love with a puppeteer and writer named Alexandre and as the couple go through a photo album, he sees a picture which looks like her.
One does not have to get into the existential meaning behind this film to truly enjoy it.It concerns two women, Weronika and Véronique, both played by Irene Jacob (Three Colors: Red).
One dies, the other doesn't.The outstanding performance by Irène Jacob, who plays both Weronika and Véronique; the amazingly colorful cinematography by Oscar nominee (Black Hawk Down)Slawomir Idziak; and the absolutely sumptuous score by Golden Globe nominee (Three Colors: Blue, At Play in the Fields of the Lord) Zbigniew Preisner all make Oscar nominee (Three Colors: Red) Krzysztof Kieslowski's film the experience of a lifetime.But, to get the true measure of the film, you have to devote some time and effort in watching.
I think director was successful in the sense that during the movie you'r always expecting something to happen by not too much things happen.The naked scenes of Irene Jacob was really aesthetic but it looks like director has used her beauty too much..
Kieslowski's direction, Jacob's exquisite performance, Preisner's music and Idziak's cinematography give us a film to look, hear, thinkand feel.
"The Double Life of Veronique" (or "La double vie de Véronique" in French) is one of his best known movies, made at the peak of his cinema career, between the Decalogue and the Three Colors trilogy.
If you ever felt something like this or if you can understand or imagine such feelings, this story of two young women, living in two different parts of Europe, sharing talents, feelings and fate without their lives ever intersecting for more than a few seconds, this story should not seem strange at all.Beautiful films (and books, and paintings, and musical works) have complex layers of meanings and a multitude of details that are revealed to the viewer, reader, listener.
Or maybe they're latent Jedis or something (I kid).How this is all filmed is completely absorbing; Kieslowski uses hand-held camera-work, but in a steady way that often creates tension, like when the two Veroniques are walking out in public (i.e., French side after she leaves her rendezvous with this not-so-mystery man and tries to go through crowded streets, and the Polish side after a rehearsal, where her heart becomes weak and she stumbles to catch her breath).
I could watch Irene Jacob in this film or Red and see an actress so in tune with the character(s) that she in a way does half the work for Kieslowski.
In other words, even when I was wondering, more than once, 'this storyline, such as it is, is getting a little weird and quixotic, maybe for its own good', she really grounded me in the emotional logic, and the pathos becomes so much that it makes something like a scene near the end this mix of heartbreak and bewilderment that I've rarely seen like this in a film.It's at times confounding, in certain choices and moments, but never in ways that might alienate; Kieslowski asks the audience 'come, a little closer - find out more about these women, and whatever the outcome, the journey is genuine and interesting.'.
My expectations i would say were not big, because i had heard that many people did not get the movie, but i hoped for the best.The Double Life of Veronique is directed and written by Krzysztof Kieslowski and it stars Irène Jacob, Wladyslaw Kowalski and Halina Gryglaszewska.
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.
The Double Life of Veronique remains one of the defining works of European cinema in the 90's and is easily one of the greatest and most iconic films ever created by the late, great Kieslowski..
Director Krzysztof Kieslowski allows the viewer to individually interpret his movies and this one struck me as a dreamscape, almost as if the characters of Weronika and Veronique weren't real in the first place.