Kieślowski called this film the hardest of his trilogy to write, saying he had everything he needed to say something complicated and wasn’t sure he could pull it off.

THREE COLORS: RED (1994) follows Valentine, played by Irène Jacob, a part-time model in Geneva who hits a dog with her car and takes the animal in when its owner, played by Jean-Louis Trintignant, shows no interest in getting it back. She later discovers him eavesdropping on his neighbors’ private telephone conversations, among them Auguste, a law student studying for his exams, whose life begins to mirror the old man’s decades earlier.

Krzysztof Kieślowski directed and co-wrote the film with Krzysztof Piesiewicz, closing out the Three Colors trilogy after Blue and White. Piotr Sobociński’s cinematography saturates the film in red. Zbigniew Preisner’s score ties the film to fraternity, the last of three meditations on French revolutionary ideals. It was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.

Three Colors: Red became Kieślowski’s final work as director. He announced his retirement from filmmaking at the Cannes premiere and died during heart surgery two years later at the age of 54, leaving this film as the closing statement of a career about chance, connection, and lives that almost touch.