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The Double Life of Veronique - Criterion Collection |  | Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Actors: Irène Jacob, Wladyslaw Kowalski, Halina Gryglaszewska, Kalina Jedrusik, Aleksander Bardini
Studio: Criterion
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $21.00
as of 8/1/2010 02:44 MDT details
You Save: $18.95 (47%)
Rating:  reviews
Sales Rank: 11643
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Subtitled), French (Original Language), Italian (Original Language), Polish (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Discs: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Running Time: 98 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.6 x 0.9
MPN: IMEDCC1657D
UPC: 715515020725
EAN: 0715515020725
Theatrical Release Date: November 22, 1991
Release Date: November 21, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 11/21/2006
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| Customer Reviews:
 Masterpiece May 30, 2010
Tom (Rochester, NY United States)
Director Krzysztof Kieslowski has left us many cinematic jewels but The Double Life of Veronique may be his finest. Some reviewers see the film as an allegory of Poland's relationship to Western Europe and this interpretation makes perfect sense. Irene Jacob is mesmerizing in dual roles as the Polish Weronika and the French Veronique. I have never witnessed a more stunning performance by an actress; beautiful beyond compare. Slawomir Idziak's cinematography is heaven-like. Zbigniew Preisner's score is gorgeous.
My compliments to Criterion for the multitude of interesting and entertaining bonus features included in this release. I wish I had six stars to award this film.
Heartbreakingly gorgeous January 7, 2010
Le_Samourai
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Irene Jacob is exceptionally captivating playing the dual role of Veronika, an aspiring Polish soprano, and Veronique, a French music teacher. The Double Life of Veronique is a highly cerebral story of two people who feel a profound connection with someone they do not know and have never met. We first meet Veronika in Poland: singing in a choir, meeting a lover, auditioning. She wakes up one evening from a strange dream, gasping, and tells her father that she believes she is not alone. She begins to suffer bouts of breathlessness. During her debut performance, she collapses on stage. We then meet Veronique in Paris: teaching music to young students, watching a puppet show, visiting her father at his country estate. When Veronique begins to receive mysterious packages from an unknown admirer, she believes that she is deeply in love, and that the source is the answer that would fill the inexplicable and sudden void in her life. However, as with life, illusion may be more intriguing, but proves fleeting. What remains is a profound revelation that leads her to an inevitable conclusion and closure.
The Double Life of Veronique is a highly provocative film that examines a soul's search for identity and connection. Kieslowski uses a sepia overlay on the film to create a monochromatic, almost ethereal atmosphere. The suffusive darkness achieved by this technique is a manifestation of the mystical and dreamlike elements of the story (note the similar effect achieved in Agnieszka Holland's Olivier, Olivier). As in Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker, the visual otherworldliness of the film is a representation of the exploration of the subconscious. Note the elements of fairy tales and vivid dreams in the film. The unfolding of the story is elliptical and obscure, as if the protagonist is reluctantly waking from a sweet, intangible dream. In fact, she is.
 A beautiful work of art June 4, 2009
L. Power (San Francisco)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Throughout his career director Krsysztof Kieslowski worked as a documentary film maker, before doing his doing his most memorable works on film.
His movies offer recurring themes such as coincidences, reverbation, connection, and even parallel lives, and deliver a compelling fly on the wall look at human existence. With Veronique and his famous Blue, White and Red Trilogy, he has crafted some of the most visually memorable movies you will see. In fact, I saw this movie after seeing it recommended on Roger Ebert's website.
It is a simple truth, universally acknowledged that there is little in the world more beautiful and affecting than a beautiful woman in her pristine prime. So it is with Veronique affectingly portrayed by Irene Jacob.
Not only do see her in wonder, in bemusement, and nude and being made love to, like the camera in love with it's object, it's like we step into that life and see the things we would not normally see with an all seeing eye. This is how this movie excels as a work of art. We get to know who she is by how she is.
The only weakness I find is with the story and the characterisation. While Irene Jacob is a compelling presence, the other characters and the story do not develop particularly well.
A little disturbing is the introduction of the puppeteer, a somewhat shadowy and mysterious character, with somewhat of a stalker like obsession with French Veronique. He sends a shoelace through the mail.
Does he represent some sort of all knowing intelligence, and are his intentions towards her actually good? The sequence where he makes love to her while she is sad, could be interpreted a number of ways.
I find Irene Jacob fascinating, and she did another movie with Kiezlowski called Red. I consider that a much better movie, it tells a story, and draws parallels between the old judge and the young man, and I would call Red a masterful work. Red is part of a trilogy, yet it is a stand alone movie. It also garnered three Oscar nominations. Unfortunately, Red proved to be his last movie. I do recommend both movies.
Cinematic perfection April 14, 2009
Michel Kieslowski (Orlando, Fl)
I fear that using words to try and describe the great essence of this film won't do it proper justice. I will restrict myself by only saying that this film is perfection on screen. Kieslowski was a true master...
Astounding artistic achievement February 25, 2009
James Fairchild (Fairfield, Iowa)
Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski made a dozen or so quality films, but beginning with The Double Life of Veronique, he suddenly catapulted into the artistic stratosphere inhabited by such greats as Fellini, Kurosowa, and Bergman. Starring Irene Jacob, whose acting is as superb as her beauty, the film is a complex metaphysical examination of twin souls briefly touching then parting and leaving only question marks. Jacob plays both roles, and Kieslowski moves at will between their two lives, sometimes with few visual clues. It may take several viewings to get their lives straight, but it is worth it. Long out of print, this film eluded me for about five years before I found a VHS tape, which I watched many times before it was released on DVD. If you like great filmmaking and don't mind subtitles, I highly recommend this film as I do Kieslowski's other masterpieces, the trilogy Blue, White, and Red, which are absolutely incredible films. (Jacob also stars in Red -- in my opinion the best of these three great films.) Though from Poland, Kieslowski made all of these films in French. Unfortunately, he passed away at the peak of his directorial powers.
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