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Iréne Jacob Unveils Armchair Before Special Screening of THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE at the 21st FICM

Gustavo R. Gallardo

As part of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) tradition of recognizing their special guests, filmmaker Iréne Jacob unveiled a personalized armchair before the special screening of the film The Double Life of Veronique (1991) by Krzysztof Kieslowski.

Founder and general director of the FICM, Daniela Michel, recognized the actress' work in the 1991 film, which earned her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress.

She also recalled that Iréne Jacob had a special participation in Three Colours: Red (1994), a film that is part of the "Three Colors" trilogy and that will be screened on Thursday, October 26 at 18:15 hrs. at Sala 2 of Cinépolis Morelia Centro.

In The Double Life of Veronique, Veronique is a young French woman who dreams of becoming a renowned singer. Weronika lives in Poland and has a similar career goal and looks exactly like Veronique, although the two of them are not related and are unaware of each other's existence. Both women face the ups and downs of life. Veronique begins an unusual relationship with a puppeteer who tries to help her with her existential problems.

At the special screening, the actress said that it was a pleasure to be in Morelia and to see the theater full of people for the screening of the film The Double Life of Veronique: “I think this is a festival where you fall in love.”

About the film, she said that the team of Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski was always playing with shadows to make it seem like the characters were moving one way, when in fact they were moving somewhere else.

The music, the work of Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner, was composed before the shooting of the film. She also acknowledged there were many job offers for her in the USA after The Double Life of Veronique.

“This is a film about intuitions, about hunches, because sometimes we feel alone, yet we feel in company, and sometimes we are alone and feel neglected,” the actress said.

She told the audience that The Double Life of Veronique has a very poetic feel to it, because the montage was very difficult for Kieslowski, although it was fairly simple if he stuck to the script, “but on that occasion he did the montage about 15 times and then came out depressed about how difficult it seemed to him.”

On that, she added that despite the film being one, everyone who has seen it sees a different version of it, and that Kieslowski even sent the film with three alternative endings so that the diverse global audience could have their ending.