Trois Couleurs: Rounge (1994)

Three Colors: Red represents the third color of the French Flag which represent fraternity. Valentine (Irene Jacob) is a young model living in Geneva. Because of a dog she ran over, she meets a retired judge who spies on his neighbors' phone calls, not for money but to feed his cynicism. The film is the story of relationships between some human beings, Valentine and the judge, but also other people who may not be aware of the relationship they have with Valentine and/or the old judge. Redemption, forgiveness, compassion, and hilarity ensues.

Trivia: This is the final movie for filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski (by the way, you pronounce his last name Key-sh-loft-sky). During the scene in the music store, the main theme from White can be heard playing in the background. Citing that it does not meet enough of the necessary guidelines concerning a film's "artistic control" within a foreign co-production, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences disqualified the film from competing as Switzerland's official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. (In an unprecedented move, Switzerland rejected the Academy's offer to submit another film.) Miramax Films' co-chairman Harvey Weinstein persuaded more than sixty industry heavyweights to sign a letter of complaint urging the Academy to reconsider its stance, to no avail. The stars of Kieslowski's other two color movies, Juliette Binoche and Benoit Regent, from Blue, and Julie Delpy and Zbigniew Zamachowski, from White, make cameo appearances in this film.

Like the first film which was bursting with blue and the second was awash in white, this movie is replete with red. Just about everything in this movie is red. It is very striking. In the movie red stands for fraternity or brotherhood. Basically it stands for the personal interaction between people. Like the other two movies, the theme seems to be opposite of what is actually happening. Throughout the film people talk to each other on the phone, and a lot of the scenes are viewed from behind a window giving the whole movie a certain voyeuristic feel, especially the old judge who is shown eavesdropping on his neighbors lives. We also watch as Valentine and a young judge who happens to be a neighbor of hers (and involved with a neighbor of the old judge) seem to live parallel lives to each other without ever meeting. But the cool thing is that unlike the other two films which end with the main character crying, this one ends with the judge smiling as if to say the fraternal love is the most important of the three. It also has a very satisfying ending to both the movie and the trilogy. I highly recommend these three movie and I also recommend watching them close together to get the full picture.