Why so much hype?

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Seeing the films of Krzysztof Kieslowski is a special experience, now, more than two decades since he stopped making films, and died soon after. The Polish director's relative short life (he died at the age of 54) and career (less than two decades) is now turning into legend. Each of his films shows the quality and the emotion of a true master of the cinema. "The Double Life of Veronique" (or "La double vie de Véronique" in French) is one of his best known movies, made at the peak of his cinema career, between the Decalogue and the Three Colors trilogy. Somehow I missed it at release. Now, in the perspective of the life and death of the director, not only that it stays as a remarkable piece of cinema but it is enriched with new significance.Fate and identity are the two big topics of this film. Have you ever had the feeling that you are not alone or even unique in the Universe, that somewhere or maybe in some other time, a parallel destiny is shared with yours? Did you ever feel like your life is not the result of your own decisions, that higher forces manipulate you life, same as a puppeteer controls his marionettes? If you ever felt something like this or if you can understand or imagine such feelings, this story of two young women, living in two different parts of Europe, sharing talents, feelings and fate without their lives ever intersecting for more than a few seconds, this story should not seem strange at all.Beautiful films (and books, and paintings, and musical works) have complex layers of meanings and a multitude of details that are revealed to the viewer, reader, listener. This is exactly the case with "La double vie de Véronique". One can use multiple keys to read the story. There is a political reading about the parallel destinies of the two women who are born and live on the two sides of the curtain that divided Europe and was just falling down by the time the film was made. There is a philosophical reading about destiny and about the controllers of the destiny (the puppeteer, the writer who creates characters and write about their destinies). There is a religious reading with multiple symbols that ask to be examined from the name of the main character to the music that is sung and played during the film.Each of the scenes includes details that support the multiple stories and have their place in it, in some cases relating to other scenes in the peer story. The only exception was the secondary thread about presumptive perjury by the French Veronique whose sense I could not decipher. Music plays an important role, as the two women are musicians, they sing and teach music that reflects their relation with fate and God. So does light, which is in some cases maneuvered by the characters. The mirrors also show up in many scenes, sometimes as a reflection of the self, in other cases as a gate to the other side, as in Lewis Carroll's stories. Shades and mysteries follow the characters and the viewers at any corner and in any moment.Kieslowski's mastering of the art of cinema is matched by the superb acting of Irène Jacob. She is strange and beautiful, sensitive and expressive. I can also wonder why her star paled after Kieslowski stopped making films, and why other film directors could not make better use of her beauty and talent. She is part of the same generation of French and French-speaking actresses as Juliette Binoche for example, but their post 1995 careers were so different. What a pity.I am happy to have discovered "La double vie de Véronique", even if so late. It's a film to see and see again.

"The Double Life of Veronique" very much lies in that grey area of cinema where nothing quite makes sense, but everything does seem to all connect together on some strange, indecipherable level. A famous example of this is "Mullholland Drive" - nobody has ever really been able to give a straight forward solution as to what the film is about, but it's still a very affecting piece of work, and the main comparison I had in my head while watching this film.This is a completely different movie, though, and what it achieves is much more impressive in my eyes. The plot couldn't be a whole load simpler; two women, identical in looks, age, and name, lead parallel lives - one in France, one in Poland. One day, one of our heroines catches a glimpse of the other by chance, seemingly setting in motion a chain of events I won't describe, lest I spoil it for everyone. Needless to say, it's an outlandish plot, but Kielowski wisely doesn't question this.Instead of focusing on its plot, it instead focuses on nailing down the eerie atmosphere that permeates nearly every scene - a strategy that absolutely pays off. Very few films out of the horror genre manage to capture such an atmosphere and it's staggeringly impressive, thanks in no small part Iréne Jacob - an actress who by now is slightly forgotten, but has given performances that would be career-best for many Hollywood stars. This is definitely one of them, capturing a wide-eyed innocence and strength that few actresses ever manage.A lot of thought is given to what this film means. It's a fair question, but as I mulled it over in my head afterwards, I realized it's not really the point. The film itself is the one searching for the meaning, and while it has no answers, its questions are much more engaging. My interpretation is that Kielowski is asking whether or not we aren't actually as alone as we like to think we are sometimes - that there are forces, far beyond our comprehension, pulling strings and making things happen. Almost everything that happens in this film appears distorted or magnified somewhere else in its running time - repeated, endlessly, forming patterns. It's not going to suit every taste, but it's a fascinating look at a take on life that most wouldn't have thought of.

Two parallel stories about two identical women; one living in Poland, the other in France. They do not know each other, but their lives are nevertheless profoundly connected.Polish cinema is not well-known. France and Italy seem to have the European continent locked when it comes to great films. For Poland, you have Roman Polanski, and he has spent much (probably most) of his career outside the country. But this film is one example of the great things that can come out of Poland.The very concept is interesting. Two people who are very much alike, whose lives influence each other, but live in completely separate places and do not know each other. Is it possible? Probably not. But a great premise, just the same.

Music, image and script combines to offer a very personal work. The film transcends the usual conventions. Do not waste time with unnecessary dramas or unrealistic love stories, and shows us something very unusual: the feminine inner world, subtle perceptions, intuition, omens, strange coincidences...The unspoken moments in the film reveals an intimate atmosphere along the dreamlike and sensual photography. Irene Jacob does an amazing job so natural that it is. Also highlight the music, as in the trilogy BLUE, RED AND WHITEIt is a movie to let go,see it without preconceived ideas.10/10