The Double Life of Véronique (1991)
Directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski
Véronique 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 Véronique, though the two are not related. The film follows both women as they contend with the ups and downs of their individual lives, with Véronique embarking on an unusual romance with Alexandre Fabbri, a puppeteer who may be able to help her with her existential issues.
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What critics compared The Double Life of Véronique to
This thriller is like a spiritual cousin to Kathryn Bigelow’s “Strange Days” and maybe Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “The Double Life of Veronique.”
There are no little green men and no special effects to speak of, but the looming presence of that planet and its possibilities turns Another Earth into a metaphysical treat, with influences that range from Krzysztof Kieslowski's The Double Life of Veronique and Blue to Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris.
The doppelgänger premise still has its appeal; whole generations of filmgoers have never seen "Vertigo," or, for that matter, Krzysztof Kieslowski's gorgeously ambiguous "The Double Life of Veronique."
Cinematographer Slawomir Idziak, for instance, is best known for his work with Krzysztof Kieslowski -- Idziak shot The Double Life of Veronique and Blue , and his work on Gattaca can't help but recall the far more haunting imagery of those much simpler pictures.
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I meant those words as a kind of high praise: the remarkable Seimetz is as central to the film as women in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s late films, like Irène Jacob in “Three Colors: Red” and “The Double Life of Véronique” or Juliette Binoche in “Three Colors: Blue.”
This is obviously not the first time we’ve had a film about doppelgangers — see Kieslowski’s wondrous The Double Life of Veronique, Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece Persona, hell, there’s even a new one coming out later this year from Richard Ayoade called The Double, not to be confused with the Saramago novel that Enemy is based on — but Enemy really hones in on the existential dread of what it would be like to meet your double in a way that Ayoade’s comedic sensibilities, the sensitive humanism of Kieslowski, and the enigmatic qualities of Bergman couldn’t.
Cinematographer Slawomir Idziak ("The Double Life of Veronique," "Blue") captures Scott's vision and production designer Arthur Max' ("Gladiator") rendering of Mogadishu in Morocco with breathtaking images from sweeping devastation to the point of view of an injured soldier beset by a hostile mob.
A three-slice tart, Red deals with model Valentine (Irène Jacob of Kieslowski's The Double Life of Veronique), retired judge Joseph Kern (Jean-Louis Trintignant), and Auguste (Jean-Pierre Lorit), who is studying to become a judge.
His The Double Life of Veronique offers an oblique meditation on the properties of light alongside a metaphysical study of Veronique, a French woman who inadvertently photographs her perfect double (Weronika) while visiting Poland.
This time around, the protagonists are a young woman named Valentine (Irene Jacob, who starred in Kieslowski's The Double Life of Veronique) and a crotchety retired judge, Joseph Kern (Jean-Louis Trintignant).
It is tied up with the alternate universes of Blind Chance , it is right on the surface of The Double Life of Véronique , it is buried in the shared universe of the ten chapters of Dekalog .
Irene Jacob, who starred in Kieslowski's The Double Life of Veronique, gives an incredibly sensitive performance as Valentine, who finds herself on an unexpected journey of moral discovery.
There is a moment in " The Double Life of Veronique " (1991), where if the heroine had only glanced out a bus window a second sooner, she might have glimpsed herself in the city square.