ANALYSIS OF WERONIKA IN

THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE

ESTELA URIBE

PSYCHOLOGY 009

TERM: SPRING

YEAR: 2019
 INTRODUCTION

The feeling of a twin soul is not unfamiliar to me. I would have had a twin sister, but in a rare

case, my mother had a miscarriage whereby only one of us was lost. When I was a young child,

I would frequently daydream about having my twin sister with me. This is one of the reasons

why I choose to analyze a character, Weronika, in The Double Life of Veronique.

The Double Life of Veronique is a very poetic film where the connection with a soul mate is

within the context, most of the time only in the background. The film follows the lives of two

young women. It first presents Weronika, who lives with her father in a small city in Poland and

is an exceptional singer. Weronika happens to have a quick glimpse of Veronique, who came to

Cracow as a tourist, but Veronique is not aware of the encounter till much later. Having both

their mothers died, the two women are somewhat deprived of important nurturing and guidance

experiences, and feel the other´s sisterly presence in their lives as part of the female support

and company they so much crave.

CHARACTER ANALYSIS

We first find Weronika as the last member of a chorus running for cover from the rain during

a performance. Her huge smile as she finishes her part, still under the rain, is proof that this is

the passion of her life, and she is actually exceptional at singing. This artistic ability of hers is in

tune with other traits made evident in the film: her beauty, the way she moves, her being

pleasant in her relationships with her father and aunt, her apparent focus on moods and

emotions. She thus conforms with many of the characteristics of the feminine gender

stereotype resulting from socialization of gender in western cultures and defined in Lips (2010,

p. 343).
 Weronika´s mother died some time ago. She lives with her father, who is retired and passes

his time painting. She struggles to find meaning in life. She confides to her father that she does

not know what she wants. Her father is incapable of giving her advice. He loves her, but is

depicted as either emotionally numb, which can be a consequence of the death of his partner, or

emotionally distant from Weronika, as many men are in their relationship with women (Lips,

2010b). Her capability for self-disclosure, of telling others about herself and about her feelings,

goes to waste (Lips, 2010, p. G-6).

The death of Weronika´s mother has deprived her of a model for a gender role, and the

film does not show other mature women close to her that could make up for this situation (Lips,

2010, p. 124). She has an aunt she cherises in Cracow, but this aunt is retired and, feeling her

time is nearly over, spends her time engaged in the process of getting her things in order and

getting ready for her death. Weronika´s unfortunate family and social situation, her context may

have resulted in her missing more than just a woman´s company (Lips, 2010, pp. 364-365); it

may be the reason for her apparent lack of internalized ideas about what a woman can possibly

be, about what can fulfill a woman’s life, about possible selves, which are personalized images

of the self in various future roles: selves she might possibly become (Lips, 2010, p. 123). This

deprivation is somewhat compensated for when she sees Veronique briefly by chance.

Weronika starts to feel, with joy, that she is not alone in the world.

Weronika is not actively looking for a career, but her amazing voice does the job for her: she

can´t stop singing along during a chorus rehearsal in Cracow, and her voice is noticed. It is

precisely when she is on her way to the audition when she spots Veronique, her unknown soul

mate, getting hurriedly onto a bus at a square in Cracow. Veronique stands out to her because

they bth are identical.

Almost like in a Dutch painting, the light that the encounter with Veronique and her being

accepted in a professional performance bring to Weronika´s life is in sharp contrast to her

vulnerability coming to the front, as she feels pain in her chest as she walks back home from the
audition and hardly makes it to a bench in the street. An additional bad omen: a striker happens

to pass before her right at this moment, and does his trick. Weronika´s physical vulnerability and

powerlesness are part of her femininity, and turns out to be the decisive one (Lips, 2010, p. 343)

Weronika is starting a romantic relationship with Antek. They made love the day it was

raining on the performing chorus. When Weronika goes to Cracow to see her ailing aunt, Antek

cannot wait to see her again and goes to Cracow to tell her he loves her. Weronika had talked to

her aunt about Antek excitedly. However, she has not called him while in Cracow. She tries to

mumble an explanation. He says it is OK and gives her his hotel name and room number. They

meet and make love again. In the film, Antek performs an aspect of the male gender

stereotype when actively looking for her, even if she had not called him after their last

encounter (Lips, 2010, p. 494).

When Weronika is getting ready for the performance, she is filmed in underwear. She has a

perfect slim silhouette and white skin, so here again we see that she conforms to most aspects

of the feminine gender stereotype as built and reinforced by Western media (Lips, 2010, p. 116).

Reinforcing her feminine image, the room where she is getting ready is not modern, but

traditional, wanting some painting and furniture, but somewhat feminine in its setup.

Weronika´s voice was exceptional and she was well trained in Music. The pieces she is

made to sing in the film make you think she should be a singing star without a doubt. However,

she seems not to be aware of her talent, as is the case with many women (Pollack, 2013).

When she was hired, the man who heard her during the audition did not seem to focus on how

good she was when announcing her the result, but on the fact that her being accepted was not

a unanimous decision. Indeed, another female singer was not pleased by her, one is led to

think, out of rivalry.

Just as Weronika seems not to have role models around, he seems not to have anyone

near her willing to commit to support her career, a mentor, and given her exceptional voice, this

is clearly the result of prejudice, she is being evaluated as not fit for a more formal commitment
because she is a woman (Lips, 2010, p. G-6). Unfortunately, in real life not many men and

women volunteer to support a young woman to start a career. Two possible reasons are that

they think women might leave it soon after having a family, or because if they are very likely to

get married, as is the case with beautiful women, they will not depend on an income (Lips, 2010,

p. 267-268).

In the film, life seems to be what is happening to her, not a result of her reflections,

strategizing and acting: that is, she does not show agency, a behavior opposite to self-

helplesness (Lips, 2010, p. 343) The people and forces around her, her lover and the concert

producers, are what drive the changes in her life. Still worse, in spite of her great voice she does

not even feel entitled to the acting part she is awarded in the concert, believing she has to

thank it all to the producers and her good luck (Lips, 2010, 343). As she takes this actions in as

normal, she could even have fallen for some learned helplessness, believing that her

initiatives would make no difference in her life, but the film does not provide support for this

interpretation (Lips, 2010, p. 343).

When feeling ill, she does not call anyone for help, nor goes to see the doctor after she

recovered. In the film, there is not a clue why that would be. Was it because women are not

used to considering their health as a priority? Her aunt has mentioned Weronika´s mother

seemed to be in good health when she suddenly died, so Weronika had a reason for worrying.

However, she just goes on with life as usual.

During the opening concert, she sings a solo part. She performs superbly, but soon feels

weak, her vision blurrs and falls down. She has died.

CONCLUSION

The film The Double Life of Véronique presents, in its first part, the life of Weronika during a

crucial stage, when she is making the most important decisions in life: selecting a partner and a
career. She is not prepared for that. In the middle of the struggle to find out what she wants,

which involves defining who she is, her identity, she does not pay attention to her more

immediate life-or-death issue, her health, nor does anyone around her. (Lips, 2010, p. 149). Had

Weronika been a boy, perhaps the people around her would have paid more attention to her

health, instead of taking for granted she would know how to best take care of herself.

Veronique leads a life in many respects parallel to Weronika. She lives in France, near

Paris, in an appartment near his father´s house. She had also felt she was somehow

accompanied by a female soul mate in this world. When Weronika dies, she feels a great loss,

without knowing precisely why. Eventually, she comes across a photograph she took of a square

in Cracow during her tour to Polland. On the photograph, she spots a young woman, Weronika,

exactly like her. Veronique does not know, but they shared many of their personal traits and

much of their context, including their health condition.

We are free to guess the end of the story. Veronique may or may not find out who Weronika

was, but in any case, she has lost her unknown soul companion. Veronique has left her music

career to be only a music teacher, and has made the strong bet about falling in love. Surely,

Weronika would not have wanted this to be her cherished, unknown friend´s story.
REFERENCES

Lips, H. M., (2010) A New Psychology of Women (3rd ed.). Long Grove, Ill: Waveland Press, Inc.

Pollack, E. (2013, October 3). Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science?The New York

Times.
 NOTES FOR A

REFLECTIVE CHARACTER ANALYSIS OF WERONIKA

IN

THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONICA

THE FILM - 1991

A French/Polish/Norwegian collaboration
Part of the film is in French, part is in Polish. It is a collaboration with Norway
Directed by: Krzysztof Kieślowski
Produced by: Leonardo de la Fuente

MAIN CHARACTERS

Weronika - A Polish choir singer.

Véronique - A music teacher in France, not far from Paris.
Both main characters seem to be twenty-something. They are played by Irène Jacob, a Swiss
actress with former acting experience, born in 1966. For this film, she was awarded the Best
Actress Award in Cannes, 1991.

Some additional characters:

Weronika´s father, played by Wladyslaw Kowalski
Weronika´s aunt, played by Halina Gryglaszewska
Véronique´s father, played by Claude Duneton
The pupeteer, Alexandre, played by Philippe Volter

SETTINGS

Weronika lives with her father in a small town in Poland. She visits her aunt, who lives in
Cracow,, and part of the story happens there. Véronique lives in a small apartment in a small
town nearby Paris and teaches music to young children there. Her father lives not so far from
her. All dwellings and the lifestyle are modest; but the old characters (both fathers and the aunt)
seem to have a comfortable life.

THE STORY

The two girls were born on exactly the same day. Both mothers seem to have had a tender
relationship with the little girls. Both mothers have passed away, we don´t have their exact
condition. Both young women have a tender relationship with their respective father.
Veronique´s relationship with her aunt is also open, sincere and warm. It could be replacing the
lost relationship with her mom. Both young women are professionally involved with music; one
is starting a career as a singer, the other drops singing and teaches music to young children.

Weronika is Arne´s lover, but he is anxious she is not as committed to the relationship as he is.
She acknowledges she does not know what she wants in life. When visiting her aunt in Cracow,
a friend´s teacher listens to her singing and calls her to audition. Weronika gets a solo part for a
concert.

Premonition: she was hurt and passed out when a friend´s father gets her finger stuck in a car’s
door after she had a piano exam which she passed. One of her fingers finger broke. One does
not know if she still plays the piano. On her way to the audition, she is first happy when playing
with the bouncing transparent ball, but then there is a demonstration and the police is curbing a
demonstration. A passer-by makes inadvertedly makes her music papers fly around. She
manages to collect them back. She then spots a girl just like her boarding a tourism bus, leaving
in haste to escape from the danger of the police detaining demonstrators. On the bus,
Weronika´s double takes a photo of the square and does not realize she photographed an
identical girl.

During the audition, she shows her exceptional, angelical voice. On her way back to her aunt´s
home, she feel ill. She is sitting in a bench, trying to recover, when a stripper passes by and
exhibits himself in front of her. Another detail: the lawyer visiting her aunt is a dwarf.

There is a comment on her work: she has a piano diploma, but noexperience in concerts.
Arde goes to Crakow to look for her. She gives her a Christmas gift and takes her home in his
motorcycle and tells her he loves her. Two times an old lady passes by in front of her and does
not seem amicable. She is walking to her audition and there is a demonstration. No one seems
to mind her. She sees a tourism bus trying to leave the square and notices a woman just like her
getting on the bus. She feels she is not lone in the world. She had told her father she does not
know what she wants in life. She tells him that she feels she is not alone. She feels ill but does
not go to the doctor. When she is singing at the concert for the first time, she falls down, dead.

Veronique, in France, feels a loss she cannot explain. She has told her mentor she does not
want to go on with the piano and wants to remain a children´s music teacher off Paris. She sees
a show and notices the pupeteer. This man starts to get strange messages to her that she has
to decipher. She gets very interested and has lots of expectations about him. She tells him
about feeling there was some twin soul for her. He makes two puppets like her. She finds the
photograph of the square in Crakow and Weronika is in it. She realizes the pupeteer is very
frivolous in her feelings towards her and walks away.