I've taken a (partly involuntarily due to a broken tv) break from movies for a while, and La double Vie de Véronique was the first one I conciously sat down to watch for. Inspired by Cormac's review and having analysed some of Krzysztof Kieślowski's works in university before, I was eager to get into it - yet, after the first hour, I felt a slight disappointment rising up. It was as though I did not truly grasp the meaning of it all. In the fog of color aesthetic, symbolism, and a mesmerizing performance by Irène Jacobs, there was a door which knob I couldn't seem to find.
It wasn't until well into the movie that I realised how much the otherworldly and unique atmosphere of La double Vie de Véronique has crept up to me - filling me with a sense of melancholic wonder. It was at that point that I realised how Kieślowski was not aiming for a logically sound plot (not that it isn't), but rather a spiritual, atmospheric scenery to contemplate over one's feelings of connection and belonging.
From that moment I was able to not only watch, but experience the movie differently. Suddenly the fog seemed to lift. And behind it lied a beautiful and captivating journey.