Blu-ray Review: The Three Colors Trilogy — The Criterion Collection - Page 3

Special Features

Criterion has brought together an outstanding collection of bonus material, creating a good deal of their own content and carrying some selections over from the Miramax release. The Miramax set was similarly bountiful in its extras, and with a lot of that material not making the transfer over, it’s probably worth holding onto for fans.

New material on the Blue disc includes a video essay by Annette Insdorf (Insdorf provided commentaries for all three films on the Miramax set, none of which are carried over here) as well as a new interview with composer Preisner. Also new is Kieslowski’s student short film The Tram. The disc also features a student film Kieslowski acted in called The Face, which was on the Miramax White disc.

Previously available extras include a cinema lesson with Kieslowski, a selected-scene commentary with Binoche, interviews with much of the cast and crew. The theatrical trailer is also included.

The White disc has a new video essay by Tony Rayns, new interviews with cowriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz and stars Delpy and Zamachowski, and two short documentaries by Kieslowski — Seven Women of Different Ages and Talking Heads. Carried over from the previous release are another cinema lesson and a short making-of. The theatrical trailer is included.

On Red, the new extras are a video essay by Dennis Lim, a new interview with Jacob and the 1995 feature-length doc Krzysztof Kieslowski: I’m So-So… Ported over are a third cinema lesson, interviews with producer Marin Karmitz and editor Jacques Witta, behind-the-scenes footage and a featurette on the film’s premiere at Cannes. The theatrical trailer rounds out the disc.

The package also includes a hefty 78-page booklet featuring essays by Colin MacCabe on the trilogy, Nick James on Blue, Stuart Klawans on White and Georgina Evans on Red. Also included are reprints of interviews with Kieslowski and the three cinematographers of the trilogy.

The Bottom Line

A well-appointed and visually stunning box set of three terrific films, Criterion’s release of The Three Colors Trilogy is a must-own, but hold onto the previous DVD set for the commentaries, interviews and short films that didn’t make it over.

Article Author: Dusty Somers

Dusty Somers hails from Seattle, and is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a B.A. in journalism. He is a member of the Online Film Critics Society.

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