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Monday October 14th 2024

Trois Couleurs: Rouge (Three Colours: Red) | 1994

The final part of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colours trilogy – and the director’s final film – was made in Geneva, Switzerland, and its southern suburb, Carouge – dubbed the ‘Greenwich Village of Geneva’ (no, I can’t picture that either). Kieslowski chose Switzerland, “an island in the middle of Europe”, to mirror one of the film’s themes of social isolation.

When the perfect apartment for the character of Valentine (Irène Jacob) was found in Geneva, the canny owner agreed to move out for two months, provided she could stay – all expenses paid – at the Hotel des Bergues, Geneva’s finest, and most expensive.

Valentine’s apartment, above the (fake) ‘Cafe Joseph’ is at the corner of rue Micheli du Crest and rue des Sources.

The overwhelmingly red theatre interior, in which the judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) finally opens up and reveals his humanity to Valentine after the fashion show, was Le Théâtre Municipal de Lausanne, now the Lausanne Opera, Avenue du Théâtre 12, Lausanne, around 40 miles northeast of Geneva.