Pola X

Pola is an acronym for "Pierre ou les ambiguites," the French translation of the title of the Herman Melville novel on which the film is based.

After credits there's a dedication "à mes trois soeurs" ("for my three sisters").

An alternate longer TV version entitled "Pierre ou les ambiguïtés", edited in 3 one-hour episodes, was shown for the first time on September 24, 2001 on 'Arte', the German-French TV channel. The 3 episodes feature an additional 40 minutes of footage and are titled 'A la lumière' (In the Light), 'A l'ombre des lumières' (In the Shadows of the Lights) and 'Dans le sang' (In the Blood). The TV-version is closer to Carax' original concept, that the film should consist of 3 distinct parts: "The film was thought to be in three parts, three chapters. There's the one chapter in the countryside, called 'In the Light.' I knew this chapter would be light, it would be green and white, green for nature. I dyed all of the actors' hairs blonde and put them in white shirts. (...) So the film is going from light to darkness and rust. (...) So there was a conscious [decision] of going from light to dark, and from 35mm to 16mm." (Sept. 2000) The 3-episodes-TV-version is not only longer, but features different footage. The new sequences explore the dreams of Pierre and his relationship with his mother, sister and fiancée. The 3-episodes-TV-version has not been released on other media yet.

Featured in Mr. X (2014)