The old woman?


In Blue, Julie falls asleep in the park and when wakes up she observes an old woman trying to dump a bottle in the recycling bin. In Red, Valentine helps the same old woman with the bottle.

In The Double Life of Veronique, Weronika notices from the window an old woman walking with some bags. She tries to help but the woman runs away. Later, in Paris, Véronique glances an old woman (probably the same) through the window, while teaching a lesson

What’s the significance of the old woman in these Kieslowski’s films? Is she present in all his films, like the “young man” in Dekalog?

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I think it has to do with compassion and/or human connection, hence some characters make some sort of effort to help and others do not. Not necessarily because they are deliberately cruel but they may simply not even notice her.

At least that's the case with Three Colors IMO. In Double Life she seems there more to serve as one of many connections between the double lives and I'm not sure how much relevance she has outside of this thematically speaking besides maybe stirring up compassion in the viewer. Since she didn't seem to need any sort of help the second time around none could be offered.

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