M emo r y a nd Sur vival The Fr enc h Cinema of Kr zyszt o f Kiesl o w ski LEGENDA LEGENDA, founded in 1995 by the European Humanities Research Centre of the University of Oxford, is now a joint imprint of the Modern Humanities Research Association and Routledge. Titles range from medieval texts to contemporary cinema and form a widely comparative view of the modern humanities, including works on arabic, Catalan, english, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Yiddish literature. an editorial Board of distinguished academic specialists works in collaboration with leading scholarly bodies such as the Society for French Studies and the British Comparative Literature association. MHRA The Modern Humanities Research association (m h r a ) encourages and promotes advanced study and research in the field of the modern humanities, especially modern european languages and literature, including english, and also cinema. It also aims to break down the barriers between scholars working in different disciplines and to maintain the unity of humanistic scholarship in the face of increasing specialization. The association fulfils this purpose primarily through the publication of journals, bibliographies, monographs and other aids to research. Routledge is a global publisher of academic books, journals and online resources in the humanities and social sciences. Founded in 1836, it has published many of the greatest thinkers and scholars of the last hundred years, including Adorno, Einstein, Russell, Popper, Wittgenstein, Jung, Bohm, Hayek, McLuhan, Marcuse and Sartre. Today Routledge is one of the world’s leading academic publishers in the Humanities and Social Sciences. It publishes thousands of books and journals each year, serving scholars, instructors, and professional communities worldwide. www.routledge.com LEGENDA RESEARCH MONOGRAPHS IN FRENCH STUDIES The Research Monographs in French Studies (RMFS) form a separate series within the Legenda programme and are published in association with the Society for French Studies. Individual members of the Society are entitled to purchase all RMFS titles at a discount. The series seeks to publish the best new work in all areas of the literature, thought, theory, culture, film and language of the French-speaking world. Its distinctiveness lies in the relative brevity of its publications (40,000—50,000 words). As innovation is a priority of the series, volumes should predomi- nantly consist of new material, although, subject to appropriate modification, previously published research may form up to one third of the whole. Proposals may include critical editions as well as critical studies. They should be sent with one or two sample chapters for consideration to Dr Ann Jefferson, New College, Oxford oxi 3bn. Editorial Committee Dr Ann Jefferson, New College, Oxford (General Editor) Dr Adrian Armstrong, University of Manchester Dr Janice Carruthers, Queen s University Belfast Dr Nicholas Harrison, University College London Professor Bill Marshall, University of Glasgow Professor Michael Moriarty, Queen Mary University of London Advisory Committee Dr Wendy Ayres-Bennett, New Hall, Cambridge Professor Celia Britton, University College London Professor Sarah Kay, Cambridge University Professor Diana Knight, University of Nottingham Professor Keith Reader, University of Glasgow LEGENDA R esearch M onographs in French Studies Frontispiece: Memory and survival in Trois Couleurs: Bleu By kind permission of Artificial Eye Memory and Survival The French Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski Em m a W il so n LEGENDA Modern Humanities Research Association and Routledge Research Monographs in French Studies 7 2000 Published for the Society for French Studies by the Modern Humanities Research Association and Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA LEGEND A is an imprint of the Modern Humanities Research Association and Maney Publishing Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business ISBN 1 900755 27 0 ISSN 1466-8157 First published 2000 © Modern Humanities Research Association and Taylor & Francis 2000 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or disseminated or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in any retrieval system, or otherwise used in any manner whatsoever without the express permission of the copyright owner Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. LEGEND A series designed by Cox Design Partnership, Witney, Oxon Chief Copy-Editor: Genevieve Hawkins CONTENTS Acknowledgements xiii Preface: In Memoriam xv 1 Images in Crystal: La Double Vie de Véronique i 2 Amnesia and the Time-Image: Trois Couleurs: Bleu 32 3 Voyeurism and Futurity: Trois Couleurs: Blanc 59 4 Identification and Disaster: Trois Couleurs: Rouge 89 Conclusion: Home Movies 117 Filmography 121 Bibliography 134 Index 141