2 Best Movies to Watch by Bogusława Schubert

Staff & contributors

Krzysztof Kieślowski’s drama stars Irène Jacob as two identical women living separate lives, and the intricate and indelible ways in which they are bound together. While Weronika, a Polish singer, balances her familial duties and intimate romantic relationship, a French music teacher named Véronique senses that she is not alone.

The Double Life of Véronique’s hypnotic and entrancing qualities will wash over you like a tide crashing over a bed of sand. It is a tough film to capture in words, when so much of it is just beyond words—Kieślowski’s film is one to be seen, sensed, and experienced. 

Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance

Actor: Alain Frérot, Aleksander Bardini, Bogusława Schubert, Chantal Neuwirth, Claude Duneton, Gilles Gaston-Dreyfus, Guillaume de Tonquédec, Halina Gryglaszewska, Irène Jacob, Jacques Potin, Janusz Sterninski, Jerzy Gudejko, Kalina Jędrusik, Lorraine Evanoff, Louis Ducreux, Philippe Volter, Sandrine Dumas, Thierry de Carbonnières, Władysław Kowalski, Youssef Hamid

Director: Krzysztof Kieślowski

Rating: R

In war, sometimes, what stands between life and death is convenient papers, passable acting, and a buttload of luck. That was true of real-life World War II survivor Solomon Perel, whose story is depicted in Europa Europa. Somewhat like a Jewish Forrest Gump, all Perel wants to do is survive, but through his pretenses, he inadvertently witnesses the ideologies that tore the European continent apart, revealing the hypocrisy and arbitrariness of the ideas that needlessly pushed them into war. The film also acknowledges the toll it took on him, the way he finds friendship and love from the people who would have killed him if not for his lies. Europa Europa is a striking survival tale that proves how absurd real life can be.

Genre: Drama, History, War

Actor: Aleksander Bednarz, Aleksey Maslov, Alfred Freudenheim, André Wilms, Andrzej Mastalerz, Anna Seniuk, Artur Barciś, Ashley Wanninger, Bogusława Schubert, Bohdan Ejmont, Cezary Morawski, Delphine Forest, Erich Schwarz, Grzegorz Wons, Halina Łabonarska, Hanns Zischler, Holger Kunkel, Jan Paweł Kruk, Jarosław Gajewski, Jarosław Gruda, Julie Delpy, Kama Kowalewska, Klaus Abramowsky, Marco Hofschneider, Martin Latallo, Martin Maria Blau, Michèle Gleizer, Nathalie Schmidt, Piotr Kozłowski, René Hofschneider, Ryszard Pietruski, Solomon Perel, Stanisław Zatłoka, Tadeusz Wojtych, Włodzimierz Musiał, Włodzimierz Press, Wojciech Skibiński, Wolfgang Bathke, Zbigniew Bielski

Director: Agnieszka Holland

Rating: R