The Use of Attention in "Red" (1994) 

"Red" (1994) is one of three films in the "Three Colors" trilogy directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski between 1993-94. The same year, the Academy Awards nominated "Red" for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director. "Red," "White," "Blue" are colors which comprise the French flag, and the trilogy can be thought of as a critique of Europe in the 1990s. Some argue that "Red" is an anti-romance film.

Before reading William James' chapter within "Psychology: The Briefer Course" (1892) on attention, I watched "Red" and observed subtle techniques utilized by Kieslowski to capture my attention. Following reading James, I believe many techniques Kieslowski uses can be seen similarly described by James' concept of attention, as Kieslowski blends involuntary, dispersed, and directed attention within film to tell the story. James' concept of attention can lend itself to film quite easily,

This cycling of attention is much easier said than accomplished. One of my friends' recent film school assignments is to create a 3-5 short minute film -- the rules are simple: do not use violence with weapons to tell your story. Many times, we rely on immediate "involuntary fascination," such as a knife or gun as an effective, but cheap way to thrill us and capture our attention. The result of Kieslowski's use of attention contributes to a deeper understanding of the film's overall conceit, by integrating the color red as a metaphor to describe the human experience.

The color red is present in every scene, as a reminder in the "dim background," as James says, perhaps of the ever-present notion of love in our lives. Yet, the viewer is complicit in this understanding, because Kieslowski has prepared us by calling the film "Red" -- building our familiarity, so that it is involuntary, and thus can be better understood to make our own interpretation (prediction).

(Image: http://www.dw.com/image/0,,19346939_303,00.jpg)

 A viewer may watch "Red" or any film several times and begin to notice new information with each new experience. One might argue that we gain familiarity with 'new' elements when we are exposed to the same information again. This is certainly true. Yet, Kieslowski is aware of this, and utilizes the visual techniques through repetition by depicting the same sound or color (red) and associating it with a certain character or memory.

Unlucky in love. For example, the color red appears when Valentine (Irene Jacob) visits the local convenience store to play coin slots -- and is rewarded with three of a kind (red cherries). Unfortunately, her lover is far away from her and the sight of winning stings badly. (Image: http://www.rowthree.com/2011/06/22/exploring-kieslowskis-three-colors-trilogy-red-1994/) 

Such snippets of visual information, like the moment of directed attention on the slot machine, reinforce a motif. The motif is reinforced by the concept of attention, as James writes "how many objects can we attend to at once[?]" in the context of understanding language. In relation to Kieslowski, as viewers, we are exposed to many stimuli both involuntarily and voluntarily. As in "Red," James observes that "when data are so disconnected...we have no conception which embraces them together it is much harder to apprehend several of them at once." 

Although in his film, Kieslowski utilizes many disparate visual data, playing on the difficulty of interpreting various types of attention, it forces the viewer to find a common link between the images: red. How does the color red operate within the film to tell a cohesive story? This is the subject of Kieslowski's interest -- it is there when Valentine wakes up, it is there when she smiles, it is there when she cries.

Using the camera to direct attention, Kieslowski chooses elements or colors to add additional information to capture our attention, such as when Valentine looks through her window to see Auguste (Jean-Pierre Lorit) at the moment when he is leaving his red Jeep parked on the side of the street. Similarly, Valentine's consecutive visits to the Judge's home (Jean-Louis Trintignant) are repeatedly accompanied by the sound of a plane overhead.

William James: "The stimulus is either a sense-impression, very intense, voluminous, or sudden; or it is an instinctive stimulus, a perception which, by reason of its nature rather than its mere force, appeals to some one of our congenital impulses and has a directly exciting quality" (88). (Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James)

 As James describes, the involuntary attention that is at work is often linked to sudden or instinctive stimuli.Throughout "Red," the viewer becomes accustomed to switching between a variety of intense, sudden, and instinctive stimilu -- colors, sounds, and repetitive actions -- Kieslowski is a master of selecting specific sensory elements. We are forced to choose which of these elements to focus on, and which we will deem most important to us. The effect leads to emotional investment in the characters, but also a better understanding of ourselves by pointing to which of these moments we ascribe importance to and asking why. "Red" makes the mundane seem very interesting -- just like love itself.