Word: karol
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...film stars Zbigniew Zamachowski as the over-grown boy of a man, Karol Karol. Like "Blue," the first movie in this series, "White" begins with the ending of a marriage. In the case of "Blue," Julie's husband and daughter are killed and she must seek and define her own sense of liberty. In "White," Karol's wife Dominique (played by the stunningly beautiful to-die-for Julie Delpy) divorces him, claiming their marriage has not been consummated. With Karol's pathetic, meek confirmation of this fact, he ends his marriage and loses everything: his wife, her love...
...film continues, Karol surrepticiously (and illegally) makes a fortune and includes Mikolaj in the spoils. His first and foremost concern, his driving force, his incentive which incites him to mask his own death and create a new identity for himself, is to avenge himself and frame his wife--because he loves her so much...
...Since Karol was potent before they were married and is capable of performing after the divorce, the director Kieslowski is definitely trying to say something about marriage. He is using marriage as a forum for exercising power and revenge. This is one of the many unique characteristics of the story Kieslowski has created...
...comparison to "Blue" with its melancholic and somber tone, "White" is a black comedy of quirkiness and creativity. When the person Karol has agreed to kill turns out to be Mikolaj, we are not really surprised. The sense of voyeurism accomplished with Karol watching his own funeral or looking through binoculars at his ex-wife in prison do not overtly strike the viewer as unusual. But combined, these and other scenes slowly converge to form Kieslowski's unique way in which to tell his love story...
This does not mean that Kieslowski does not use his visual talent. He steps into Karol's memory on occasion, replaying his reel-to-reel vision of walking from the marriage altar and stepping into the sun with Dominique. Her kiss always ends this sequence of hazy golden light and crinolin...