Trois couleurs: Bleu (1993)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Krzysztof Kieslowski

Writers:

Krzysztof Kieslowski (scenario) and
Krzysztof Piesiewicz (scenario) ...

Release Date:

8 September 1993 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Music

Plot:

First of a trilogy of films dealing with contemporary French society concerns how the wife of a composer deals with the death of her husband and child.

Plot Keywords:

Paris | Death Of Daughter | Part Of Trilogy | Death Of Husband | Color In Title

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 13 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Juliette Binoche	...	Julie Vignon (de Courcy)
Benoît Régent	...	Olivier (as Benoit Regent)
Florence Pernel	...	Sandrine
Charlotte Véry	...	Lucille (as Charlotte Very)
Hélène Vincent	...	La journaliste (as Helene Vincent)
Philippe Volter	...	L'agent immobilier
Claude Duneton	...	Le médecin
Hugues Quester	...	Patrice
Emmanuelle Riva	...	La mère
Florence Vignon	...	La copiste
Daniel Martin	...	Le voisin du dessous
Jacek Ostaszewski	...	Le flutiste
Catherine Therouenne	...	La voisine
Yann Trégouët	...	Antoine (as Yann Tregouet)
Alain Ollivier	...	L'avocat

Also Known As:

Three Colors: Blue (Canada: English title) (USA)
Three Colours: Blue (Canada: English title) (UK)
Bleu (France) (short title)
Blue
Trzy kolory: Niebieski (Poland)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

France | Poland | Switzerland | UK

Language:

French | Romanian | Polish

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Canada:14 (New Brunswick/Nova Scotia/Prince Edward Island) (DVD rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:AL | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Cité du Midi, Paris 18, Paris, France

Company:

CAB Productions

Trivia:

At one point, we see Julie carrying a box which, as a close-up shows, has prominently written across it the word "blanco", Spanish for white; in the next shot we are looking at her from behind, and she pauses in the street as a man in blue passes her on her left and a woman in red passes her on her right. This is a subtle reference to the structure of the Three Colours trilogy - blue, white, red, in that order, mirroring the French flag.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The speech given at the funeral states Julie's daughter's age as 5, but the dates on the coffin (26/04/1985 - 07/09/1992) would make her 7 years old.

Quotes:

Julie Vignon: Now I have only one thing left to do: nothing. I don't want any belongings, any memories. No friends, no love. Those are all traps.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Sat sau ji wong (1998)

Do we like her? Do we feel anything?

Something of a model of directorial focus and control, 'Bleu' seems to be an attempt to answer several related questions: How can a filmmaker express the feelings for someone who won't, or can't, express them herself? Can the director make the viewer understand her, like her, share her feelings? Krzysztof Kieslowski comes very close, finding ingenious, even brilliant ways to get inside the head of his deliberately impenetrable Julie. The frequent 'blackouts,' coupled with the throbbing, somber score (inspired, it seems, at least in part, by Mozart's 'Requiem'), gives us a window into the character's inner life, lets us hear, rather than see, the humanity behind her aloof façade. We understand her--but do we like her? How easy it would be for Julie to become totally unlikable--the way Juliette Binoche plays her, she is blank to the point of coldness, sometimes in ways reminiscent of Catherine Deneuve's Carole in "Repulsion," only with a taut intelligence that character certainly lacks. Somehow, she never does; but, for all the actress's control, the characterization is ultimately Kieslowski's creation, not hers. It's the directorial techniques, and not the acting, that allow us to care about Julie. So, do we ever share her feelings? No, despite all Kieslowski's tricks, we really can't. So often, Americans wrongly write off European films as 'cold,' and that's why it's surprising that this movie, which directly tackles the question of emotional frigidity, and which has such a passionate following among cinephiles, should turn out never to make us feel really anything. Oh, the film has an undeniable emotionalism, a potency, just beneath the surface, yes. But it's never willing to go the extra step and manipulate the viewer in an outright way. It's too respectful of its audience, too intelligent, too careful, for that. And this studied, uncompromising unsentimentality in itself is an achievement Kieslowski should be commended for, but some may find it makes 'Bleu' into a portrait of grief to be admired, rather than loved. 7 out of 10.