The double life of Veronique

Krzysztof Kieslowski, France/Poland, 1991, 98 minutes

This is a story of two very similar girls, one living in Krakow, the other living in Paris. One girl wishes to be a singer and leads a normals life, seeing friends and lover regularly before being spotted by a talent scout. The other is intrigued by a man who keeps following her. The young women never meet, indeed they have absolutely nothing in common and yet somehow there is a bond. They are both identical (and indeed are played by the same actress) and when the Polish girl (who suffers from a weak heart) dies on the stage in Krakow, her doppelganger in Paris feels it and begins to meditate on life...

This is not a film which is full of action, indeed it is a film singularly devoid of any point or much plot at all. This does not make it a pointless film, it is one one the most beautiful and profound I have ever seen. The two female protagonists are concerned with their daily lives, mundane though they be and yet somehow in the direction of the master Krysztof Kieslowski the ordinary becomes beautiful and sublime. Irene Jacob plays both women and she does it perfectly, she is luminous and perfectly suits the tone of this haunting story.

As I said earlier, this is not a film with much plot or story in the conventional sense, only an idea which is intriguing in its simplicity. What if we were not alone? At its heart this is a meditation on the self, on love and loneliness, human fragility and our quest for love and meaning.

Review by Louise Oliver
Written for EUFS Programme Spring 2008