Featured Audience Ratings

• Bob S

  
  almost distractingly beautiful film. hmmm, not my fave Kieslowski, a bit vague I thought

• Emil K

  
  A Strong sense of mystery hangs in the air and it takes lots of patience until the two stories connects in this ambigitious and totally empty film. Kieslowski is quite lost with the story and it soon begins to feel as a excuse for a beautiful photography and endless play with colours.… More
  A Strong sense of mystery hangs in the air and it takes lots of patience until the two stories connects in this ambigitious and totally empty film. Kieslowski is quite lost with the story and it soon begins to feel as a excuse for a beautiful photography and endless play with colours. Slawomir Idziak's photography is easliy the best thing in the film, but otherwise there is not much to grab on to or to recommend.

• Sophie B

  
  A strange but interesting film which unfortunately did nothing for me. It was too confusing trying to work out what was happening and when and what exactly Jacob's facial expressions were meant to represent. Left me with too many questions however the message that life is fragile… More
  A strange but interesting film which unfortunately did nothing for me. It was too confusing trying to work out what was happening and when and what exactly Jacob's facial expressions were meant to represent. Left me with too many questions however the message that life is fragile and you should cherish every moment is very heart warming.

• Steven C

  
  Krzysztof Kieslowski's "The Double Life of Veronique" is a sensitive and awe inspiring experience. Kieslowski is exploring the basic idea of the Counterpart Theory in Metaphysics. If you can grasp that theory and understand the long standing 'double' troupes… More
  Krzysztof Kieslowski's "The Double Life of Veronique" is a sensitive and awe inspiring experience. Kieslowski is exploring the basic idea of the Counterpart Theory in Metaphysics. If you can grasp that theory and understand the long standing 'double' troupes (they range from Dostoyevsky's famous story 'The Double' to as recently as "Another Earth") you will begin to unlock the film. On the surface Irene Jacob is terrific and the cinematography is incredible (all those colors!). "The Double Life of Veronique" is a wonderful and complex experience that is immensely rewarding to committed viewers but beware that the film will be extremely confounding if merely 'watched.' Also, many people think the film is not 'meant to be figured out.' I wholeheartedly disagree. I think the film fits it's pieces together quite well- but again, it goes back to Counterpart Theory. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpart_theory

• Reid V

  
  A visually radiant film about the universal interconnectedness of human beings. While some may be distraught by how many loose ends that Kieslowski leaves in the film, his penchant for rich storytelling will surely satisfy those viewers who choose not to ponder the metaphysical… More
  A visually radiant film about the universal interconnectedness of human beings. While some may be distraught by how many loose ends that Kieslowski leaves in the film, his penchant for rich storytelling will surely satisfy those viewers who choose not to ponder the metaphysical questions that this film brings up. It is contemplative, incredibly well acted, and just simply a gorgeous film to watch.

• Lewis C

  
  Very interesting movie. I'll need to see it again before I can give it a proper review.

• Carlos M

  
  I can see this is another of Kieslowski's delicate, humanistic stories, and while it isn't bad and has an interesting idea, I really cannot help asking myself "what is the point?"

• Ken S

  
  This feels very much like a test run for the three colors trilogy, especially Blue. You could call this entry Trois Couleurs: Vert (Green)

• William G

  
  I may not quite get it, but I know that I like it.

• Edward S

  
  In today's cinematic world where our suspensions of disbelief are off the charts for all types of fantastical and metaphysical elements, Kieslowski's tale of the connected coincidental lives of two nearly identical women comes off as mild. The film is stunningly beautiful,… More
  In today's cinematic world where our suspensions of disbelief are off the charts for all types of fantastical and metaphysical elements, Kieslowski's tale of the connected coincidental lives of two nearly identical women comes off as mild. The film is stunningly beautiful, makes wondrous use of colors and especially its exceptional music, and is shot with an astonishing yearning sensitivity found only in the most poetic of voyeurism. Jacob's central performance, the target of such cinematic voyeurism, is also excellent. Sadly, by the time the film's over it seems that Kieslowski should have had loads more to say; the film feels incomplete or like a half-baked meditation of some amusing ideas that should've been developed more. Even with the average running time of 98 minutes I felt that the film was in two large awkward chunks with each act dedicated to the two main characters. I wouldn't have minded if the film carried on, in the imaginary third act begging to manifest, to make a more concrete statement with its pleasantly whimsical and very intriguing premise. From the director of the 'Three Colors Trilogy,' which stretched the ideas of the boundless interconnectivity of our lives to such a momentous degree that 'La Double Vie de Véronique' seems like a cheap knock-off, I was severely disappointed.

• Ivan D

  
  Fresh from a blockbuster overload after watching "The Dark Knight Rises" a couple of times, it's a bit off for me to immediately jump back to my more esoteric inclinations. Now, here's Krzysztof Kieslowski's enigmatic "The Double Life of Veronique",… More
  Fresh from a blockbuster overload after watching "The Dark Knight Rises" a couple of times, it's a bit off for me to immediately jump back to my more esoteric inclinations. Now, here's Krzysztof Kieslowski's enigmatic "The Double Life of Veronique", a film that, like the movements of the marionettes shown in the film, unveils its story with a certain hypnotic vibe. Honestly, I'm not quite sure if what I have seen is really something deeply meditative or merely a pretentious piece, but it is nonetheless an artful ride. Just like a typical Kieslowski film, "The Double Life of Veronique" appears as if little to nothing is going to happen and as if the main characters' feelings are operating within the confines of an emotional plane alien to ordinary viewers like us. But with the Kieslowki's usual sleight-of-hand at play here, and with that I mean his penchant for integrating deeply affecting concepts about love and identity within the visual limitations of a subtle drama film, "The Double Life of Veronique" is quite successful in a handful of levels. First, it is a well-crafted cinematic amalgamation of music and imagery (thanks to Kieslowski's frequent collaborators Zbigniew Preisner and Slawomir Idziak). Second, it is a film particularly memorable because of Irene Jacob's natural, iridescent charm and quietly devastating performance. And third, well, this is where the more ambiguous things come in. As an abstract film both in emotions and meaning, it is meritorious in just letting its own visual and auditory mood take over the reins of telling the film's story (or the reins of justifying the lack thereof). But unlike your usually plotless art film, "The Double Life of Veronique" has an involving narrative working to its own advantage. Well, the story is quite simplistic. It concerns two women who look very much alike: Weronika, who lives in Poland, and Veronique, who lives in Paris. Both characters are played by Irene Jacob. From the hair to their dressing preference, they are the spitting images of one another. Hell, they're not even related. Not aware of each other's existence, the film's metaphysical powers are slowly creating a bridge; slowly, we are seeing the connection between them. But Kieslowski, arguably at his subtlest, won't let his film be tarnished by some clichéd chance encounters or life-affirming vis a vis between the two. Instead, Kieslowski has spatially set both characters apart from each other to first let their independent stories be told. Weronika, a considerably free-spirited young woman, is just inches away from attaining success in the world of opera singing. Veronique, on the other hand, is a music teacher in search of a meaningful love. From these simple stories of existence, the film is quite surprising in how it slowly widens its conceptual plane as it progresses. From simply being a drama film about two look-alikes, "The Double Life of Veronique" slowly turns into a meditation about distant duality and the spiritual and emotional connection between two people created in the same physical mould. So, maybe this is where God enters this little humanist circus. Does Kieslowski perceive God as a playful master creator? An omniscient being that brings dead ringers into existence, intentionally integrates them into the stream of life and then watch the sparks fly? Is there some sort of energy that these two share that when one of them dies, the other gets weaker and emptier inside? Kieslowski's vision for this picture is just too far-reaching and, at the same time, so wonderfully ambiguous that its idea just won't end where this film already has. Take "Another Earth" as an ideal example. I believe that the said film is "The Double Life of Veronique" all over again. Adding a sci-fi element by incorporating a 'mirror' earth that is said to be inhabited by parallel versions of ourselves, "Another Earth" just took this film's whole concept and made it a notch more complicated but a notch less fascinating. But do not get me wrong, I think that "Another Earth", as a film, has its own merits. But at the end of the day, I very much prefer Kieslowski's masterly stroke of using nothing as his ultimate explanation to everything. Though this might be considered as a pretentious cop-out on his part, leaving everything unanswered has made the film even more compelling and reflective than it should have been. Although we all have different takes on it, we do not hold the key to what it's really all about. Perhaps life itself does, and we just aren't looking closely.

• Daisy M

  
  I wanted to see this film for a long time, since it was a film that was nominated and won so many awards back in 1991/1992 and of course for director Krzysztof Kiewloski. The Double Life of Véronique might be his best work, but I could not be sure, since I need to watch his Three… More
  I wanted to see this film for a long time, since it was a film that was nominated and won so many awards back in 1991/1992 and of course for director Krzysztof Kiewloski. The Double Life of Véronique might be his best work, but I could not be sure, since I need to watch his Three Colors trilogy. This was not a film that one can understand so easily and it also did not fit into any genre, but it was more a film to be experience as a beautiful work of art.The music score was just amazing.The scenes were not that interesting if it was not for the power of the music and for Kieslowski using beautiful colors to create a magnificent atmosphere which helped so much in creating the scenes.The music and Irène Jacob performance were the most outstanding pieces of the film. Unfortunately Kieslowski passed away in 1996 so we could not get more of such beautiful art works as this one and his Color trilogy.

• MJS M

  
  This is not going to be an easy review to write, and it has taken me a while to gather my thoughts. This is a very unconventional movie and most of what happens in it happens well below the surface. It?s also nearly impossible to analyze without spoiling the whole thing. I tried… More
  This is not going to be an easy review to write, and it has taken me a while to gather my thoughts. This is a very unconventional movie and most of what happens in it happens well below the surface. It?s also nearly impossible to analyze without spoiling the whole thing. I tried looking up Roger Ebert?s take on it, but even he seemed at a bit of a loss of words as to how to describe it to someone who hasn?t seen it. The film was directed by Krzysztof Kie?lowski, a filmmaker I got off on the wrong foot with. I found him film ?Blue? to be pretentious and boring, and I didn?t want to bite off his ten part series ?The Decalogue? before I knew I could chew it. This movie on the other hand was captivating from the moment it started until the moment it ended. It?s the sort of thing that makes me want to give Blue another shot. The burden of carrying this entire film rests on the shoulders of the French actress Irène Jacob who plays both the Polish singer Weronika and the French singer Véronique. Neither woman knows the other one but they both share an indefinable bond. But the film?s central mystery is not how these women are connected, but what lays in their head. The Veronicas emote a certain state of mind that just makes forces you to examine them, you NEED to know what makes them tick. Jabob clearly deserved the award she won at the Cannes film festival. What?s more it is a great technical achievement, S?awomir Idziak?s cinematography is among the most beautiful I?ve ever seen. The film looks mostly natural, but it is also drenched in rich beautiful colors. Even the indoor shots look like they were filmed at magic hour. I cannot articulate the feelings this movie evokes, it just needs to be experienced. This is what ?art? movies are supposed to be.

• Doctor S

  
  'The Double Life of Veronique' Is Halfway Decent Held my interest long enough, but if there's some profound enlightenment being presented then I must have missed it. Alternate title could be The Brown and the Green to go along with his Red, White, and Blue trilogy.

• Dimitris S

  
  My soul is Veronique and Weronika is my missing puzzle.No matter the sex you are,in the mood for love is the appropriate expression.This film grasps your sensitivity and personally woos me to make love to a woman.

• Angela A

  
  Beautiful, and also has an awesome soundtrack.

• Anthony V

  
  Explains why I had fantasies of Irene Jacob for years.

• Tom S

  
  Kieslowski injects feeling into his characters like no other director I know. Jean-Pierre Jeunet must have had this movie on his mind when he made Amelie.

Read all 18 featured audience ratings