THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE
A film review by Ken Johnson
Copyright 1992 Ken Johnson
105 min., R, Mystery, 1991, In French (?) with English subtitles Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski Cast: Irene Jacob, Phillippe Voltar, Sandrine Dumas, Aleksander Bardini, Louis Duereux, Claude Duneton, Halina Gryglaszewska, Kalina Jedrusik
In Poland, Veronika (Irene Jacob), who is a singer, has feelings that she has a counterpart. In France, Veronique (also Irene Jacob), gets premonitions that something is going to happen to her. She starts receiving strange mail from an unknown person and tries to figure out what it all means.
I found THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE to be a great movie, and wish that I could have gone back to see it again, but I saw it on the last day it was being shown. I highly recommend this film, I think that you will probably enjoy it. This film has been released on video cassette. However, many video stores may probably not get this film (like mine didn't). If your video store has gotten the film, there is no real need to go see it in the theater, unless you prefer to see films in the theater. On a scale of zero to five, I give THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE a five. THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE is rated R for female nudity, adult situations, and explicit language.
All of the actors/actresses do a great job. Irene Jacob, who won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, is excellent, as well as being extremely beautiful. Veronika's aunt and Veronique's father were also both great. A nice thing about the film is that the two main characters (Veronika and Veronique) are shown separately. At only one brief time are the two shown almost together, and that keeps the film from getting confusing.
This film is definitely not for mainstream audiences. I feel that those who don't ever venture to their local art theater will most likely find this film to be a waste of time. Those who tend to enjoy imports/alternative cinema will most likely be entranced by the film, although you may have to see the film twice for everything to make sense.
The idea behind the film is interesting, but I don't think that it is a new idea. The film is well written. Well, I should say that the subtitles are well written (I don't understand the language spoken so I don't know what the actors were really saying). The subtitles are done with white lettering, and is almost always easy to read. The locations used, I assume in France and Poland, are great and really set the film well.
-------- Ken Johnson blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu
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