Reading

It’s funny just how rare it is to see characters in movies or TV shows reading. Veronique apparently didn’t just buy one of Alexandre’s books, she seems to have bought them all. And she’s surrounded herself on her bed with them and seems to be devouring the text, cross referencing them at times, laughing at the connections and discoveries she finds. She adds her own rituals, the spinning tea bag in the tea she’s ignoring, the shoelace wrapped around her finger. No writer deserves such a wonderful reader.

She goes to the window and sees the postman approaching. She meets him downstairs and asks if he knows what is in the package. He says he has no idea — but Veronique tells him that it will be an empty Virginia cigar box and of course she is right. So, this means that Alexandre somehow knew that Veronique wouldn’t just seek out his books, she would absorb them completely and pick up every detail.

Veronique both reminds me of someone I know and of myself. There is nothing more romantic than mystery. It is only in narrative that we discover both and learn how to see and feel it in our lives. But as Veronique turns to go back into her apartment, she is confronted with harsh reality. Jean-Pierre, the husband of her friend who she has agreed to slander, is sitting on her steps and asks if she really plans to go through with it … then demands that she say something. Veronique remains silent, and then Jean-Pierre suddenly proclaims: “Oh God, it’s all so complicated. I’m turning myself in. That’s all.” Another mystery, another puzzle, but this one will not be solved, Kieslowski lets the subplot drop here.

Veronique returns home to visit her father. This time her father gives her a scent and asks her opinion — so apparently he’s a perfumer. She applies the scent to his nose and sniffs it there, saying it’s tres bien, but she liked the other scent better. He declares that they come from different seasons and have different purposes. He then asks if she’s resolved her mystery and she nods yes, but doesn’t elaborate. He tells her that he has a letter for her, which she opens. It’s a cassette tape and when her dad asks if she wants to play it, she shakes her head no.

So, to recap, Alexandre has by now figured out that she would buy all of his books, learned her home address and that of her father and figured out that she has a close enough relationship to him that she would visit him soon, so the tape wouldn’t sit around too long. It’s always a fine line in movies between romantic and creepy behavior, especially in early 90s films. (For a master class in walking that line, watch Wong-Kar Wai’s “Chungking Express.”)

Next she tells her father that she has to leave, she has a music class to teach. But then she offers up a strange hallucination she had, what she says feels like a dream. She envisioned a painting that, by her description, was the one created by Weronika at the beginning of the film. It’s a sweet connection between the father-daughter relationships, but also a reminder of the mysticism surrounding Veronique, which is why she remains so open to Alexandre’s personal mysteries.