Grieving, Therapy, Cinema and Kieslowski's Trois Couleurs:Blanc

Abstract

This analysis of Kieslowski’s Trois Couleurs: Blanc prioritises Winnicottian theory in accounting for the arrested development of the film’s tepid hero, Karol, and his recourse, in the interests of survival, to a false self. That aspect of the paper complements a Jungian examination of the collective significance of this chameleon figure. Trickster-like and alternating between unctuous ingratiation and bullish exuberance, he finds himself contributing to the massive socio-economic changes sweeping through his native Poland. While the old, downtrodden peasant culture is ceding its rickety hegemonic authority to dubious commercial adventures, the nation teeters on the threshold of entry into a brash European Union. In the confusion does Karol discover of his true self?