The Double Life of Veronique

Stars: Irene Jacob, Phillipe Volter, Sandrine Dumas. Presented in a lovely sepia tone, The Double Life of Veronique offers some very nice cinematography and virtually nothing else. Irene Jacob (winner of a Best Actress award at Cannes) stars as Veronica/Veronique, the former a gifted singer in Poland, the latter an aspiring singer in France. There is little dialogue and even less story: Veronica wins a singing competition, performs at a recital, and drops dead. Veronique feels one of those unexplained trans-country missing limb twinges when Veronica dies. Veronique abandons her singing career, continues to teach music, and in an extremely tiresome and roundabout way falls in love with a children's book author/puppeteer. Roll credits. Only once in the film do the two women even remotely meet: Veronique, on vacation, sees Veronica boarding a bus, and takes a picture of her. For about one-third of the film Veronica/Veronique is walking/running through the streets of Krakow/Paris while we yawn/sleep and wonder why we're watching a non-narrative travelogue of Poland/France. Awarded Best Foreign Film of 1991 by the National Society of Film Critics ("Did you understand it?" "Nope, but I'd say it's Best Picture material." "Oh, absolutely."), The Double Life of Veronique is a tale told by a cinematographer, full of tracking shots and close-ups, signifying nothing. Audience: Insomniacs who are immune to Sominex. (R. Pitman)[DVD Review—Nov. 28, 2006—Criterion, 2 discs, 97 min., in Polish & French w/English subtitles, not rated, $39.95—Making its first appearance on DVD, 1991's The Double Life of Veronique sports a great transfer with Dolby Digital stereo sound. DVD extras on this Criterion Collection edition include an audio commentary by Annette Insdorf (author of Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski), three documentary shorts—“Factory” (1970), “Hospital” (1976), and “Railway Station” (1980)—by Kieslowski, “The Musicians” (1958) short film by Kieslowski teacher Kazimierz Karabasz (64 min.), the 53-minute 1991 behind-the-scenes documentary “Kieslowski—Dialogue,” the 31-minute 2005 documentary “1966-1988: Kieslowski, Polish Filmmaker,” interviews with cinematographer Slawomir Idziak (25 min.), composer Zbigniew Preisner (22 min.), and costar Irene Jacob (17 min.), the five-minute U.S. ending, and a booklet featuring essays and selections from Kieslowski on Kieslowski. Bottom line: a superb extras package for a lesser Kieslowski film.][Blu-ray Review—Feb. 15, 2011—Criterion, 121 min., in Polish & French w/English subtitles, not rated, $39.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1991's The Double Life of Veronique features a stunning transfer and a DTS-HD soundtrack. Blu-ray extras are identical to the previous DVD release, including audio commentary by Annette Insdorf (author of Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieślowski), three documentary shorts—“Factory” (1970), “Hospital” (1976), and “Railway Station” (1980)—by Kieślowski, “The Musicians” (1958) short film by Kieślowski teacher Kazimierz Karabasz (64 min.), the 1991 behind-the-scenes documentary “Kieślowski—Dialogue” (53 min.), the 2005 documentary “1966-1988: Kieslowski, Polish Filmmaker” (31 min.), interviews with cinematographer Slawomir Idziak (25 min.), composer Zbigniew Preisner (22 min.), and costar Irène Jacob (17 min.), the U.S. ending (5 min.), and a booklet featuring an essay by critic Jonathan Romney and selections from Kieślowski on Kieślowski. Bottom line: a winning Blu-ray debut for a film with a devoted critical following.]