10 Best Movie Trilogies Ever Made
5. Three Colours Trilogy
If the Before Trilogy is largely overlooked by film fans, Krzysztof Kieślowski's Three Colours Trilogy is downright obscure, and more's the pity. These film series share common ground: excellent work from Julie Delpy (Three Colours: White), the city of Paris as a recurring, uncredited character and near-universal critical acclaim.
Kieślowski's films – Three Colours: Blue, White and Red – take their names and subject matter from the Tricolor, the popular name for the French flag and its three colours that are often thought to represent the national motto liberté, égalité, fraternité. And it's these themes of freedom, equality and brotherhood that are explored throughout a masterful trilogy that was released in the space of exactly one year, starting in September 1993.
Blue, the first of the three, follows Juliette Binoche's Julie, who struggles to cope following a car crash that takes the lives of her child and husband and finds herself at a crossroads. Three Colours: White tells the more comedic tale of a Polish immigrant (Zbigniew Zamachowski) who seeks revenge on the wife who left him, while Red – often cited as the high point – focuses on Irène Jacob's Valentine and her curious relationship with a voyeur neighbour (Jean-Louis Trintignant).
Sadly, Kieslowski passed away in 1996 but he left behind him a legacy that puts most directors to shame, and the Trois Couleurs Trilogy was his greatest triumph.