The Double Life of Veronique

Over the years, I've had people tell me I have a twin out there.  A doppelganger?  It might have occurred in public somewhere, when they came up behind me only to find...it was someone else.  "The hair, the clothes, the walk, it was all you..." they would exclaim.  Perhaps we all have someone who resembles us enough for such a mistake to occur.  That person may even share a few traits with us, if we took the time to know them.  For some, this idea is eerie, possibly inspiring jealousy.  Everyone fells that they are unique, that there has never been and never will be another "me".  Others might be comforted knowing that we are not "alone".  That someone else in the world holds a mysterious bond with us.

Weronika is a Polish singer, first as in a choir and later taking lead soprano in a local production.  Veronique is a music teacher in Paris who one days feels overwhelming grief, unable to conceive just why.  She is overcome with sorrow through the rest of the film, abruptly quitting her job, and confused by mysterious packages in the mail.  Unlike Weronika, who always felt an unexplainable peace, Veronique does feel alone in the world, beginning the day that Weronika collapses and dies on stage.

There is a photograph.  Veronique went to Krakow once, as a tourist.  From the bus she took several shots of the main square.  She never noticed before that she caught an image of a young woman who could easily be mistaken for her. When someone points this out to her, it is too much to bear.  Director Krzysztof Kieslowski uses both moments - Weronika seeing Veronique and Veronique seeing the photo later on -  to personify the mystery of identity.  Much of his richly photographed, evocatively scored 1991 film THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE is beautifully enigmatic.  One might approach it as a puzzle, and there are clues to track: shoelaces, marionettes, cassette tapes with everyday sounds.

But Kieslowski is creating poetry, not a cheap mystery or garden variety pulp fiction.  As with the works of David Lynch, viewers can either obsessively look for deep meanings and connections or simply enjoy the mystery in THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE.  Both methods seemed to work well for me. 

The idea of a doppelganger is that the double is some sort of evil twin, perhaps of paranormal origin.  Veronique and Weronika could be viewed as both positive and negative correlates of each other.  Kieslowski does not tip the scale in one direction or the other.  Do both have to exist at once for harmony and serenity to prevail? For them? For everyone?