Kyle M
Per generally viewed experiences, going through film trilogies tend to pick up how they ascend after each chapter that accumulates in the final third of the singular narrative, divided into scope-worthy defining differentiations. The usual case is that the finale, in general terms regarding how other series spanned, tends to be the best by further polishing the praiseworthy qualities manifested from the beginning while flexing in some reminiscent feeling, reflecting how much the journey absorbed our worthwhile engagement. Also per usual is how the first film would go on an expositional pace to establish the essential rooting that’ll grow in the succeeding chapters, also ultimately setting up first impression that shall too grow as it builds. Krzysztof Kieslowski’s renowned, supposedly finest hour “Three Colours” trilogy been ranked as one of cinema’s greatest films, collectively based off the French Revolutionary ideals behind the symbolic national flag as emotionally associative, thematic defined hefts.
First installment “Blue”, aligned towards liberty in emotional sense being melancholy, sad and depressed, finds widow Julie as a haunted sole survivor of an auto wreckage that claimed the life of her composer husband and five-year-old daughter. Her grief has proven overwhelming understandably over the sudden loss as her initial way of dealing with suppressing the pain, wisely backed out of her suicidal attempt in the beginning when still healing, is isolating herself in her apartment, withdrawing from her relationships (her only family being her dementia mother). However, her daily routines attracted unexpected human connections from an old faithful friend with unrequited love to a witness of the accident who found a token of remembrance, and befriending an exotic dancer with mutual emotional support over their life dealings, then confronting her late-husband’s frequent mistress.
Julie, delicately performed by Juliette Binoche as a testament to her stature, can be seen as a demonstrative conduit that meditates on grief. Such ordeal has different approaches based off of disarray emotions in an uncertain trance, processing the unfathomable suddenness in wondering how to muster whatever strength to move forward. Anyone that gone through the five stages of grief, which the first three were subtly hinted through the second setting as she heals from her injuries, can identify as well reflect in hindsight what sort of beneficial effects that lies when opening to connect with others as a way to move on towards acceptance. The connective characterization is therapeutically well-thought out that Julie finds comfort over inevitable interactions that her grief couldn’t hinder from, and each arc is respectfully and sensitively executed by being relatedly mindful to her ordeal, or at least thoughtfully inspired. This meditation on grief leads onto social influences that await as a way to heal by opening to others than divulging in loneliness, which Kieslowski capped so well at the end, backed up by his collaborative score composer Zbigniew Preisner’s seamless adjacence.
The first chapter in Kieslowski’s remarkable trilogy “Three Colours: Blue” is well done in expressing the aligning themes so impeccably in contexts and resonant, solidifying a decent first impression for what to expect across its interconnected successors. The singularly colorful palette usage provides a memorable haze over vague recollection due to the disengaging pacing with not enough qualifying substances to consider its patience. Though from the looks of it, there’s promising complexities that await in the remainder of the trilogy with moderate anticipation as worthwhile absorbent. Its subject matter may be a topical attraction with reflective tendency, but the acclaimed recognition for these films is treatable expressive cinematic art form for cinephiles in checking these out for themselves, which they essentially should. (B)
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
11/18/24
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Sofia A
A beautiful blue Masterpiece!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
09/06/24
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Mira K
Unfortunately I don't like Binoche. I don't know why, but I can't relate to her and I feel no emotions through her. Car crash at the beginning felt boring. Maybe I have seen too much stuff like that. I just watched this like distant observer - like when you have out of body experience and watch yourself and everything that is happening from the outside without feeling anything and without relating to anything. Music was beautiful.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
08/26/24
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David S
It was pretty good but had two flaws. It's the story of a woman who's badly injured and whose husband and child die in a car wreck. They seem to have had a full life, yet in all the time she's in the hospital no one visits and in subsequent months she sees only her husband's work collaborator (once for sex) and her mother who has Alzheimer's (although 65 or so is really too young for advanced Alzheimer's. No other family, no friends. Just unbelievable. The other flaw is that her husband was one of the best classical music composers in the world. I mean really, do we need another movie about the elite like this? It just came across and sooooo pretentious.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
10/06/23
Full Review
Garvis W
Always loved this movie
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
09/29/23
Full Review
Matthew B
How does one deal with grief? That is the subject of the first film in Krzysztof Kieślowski's Three Colours Trilogy. Grief is the price that we pay for love. To deny grief is to deny the love that we felt for the person once living, and that is the reason why people find it hard to let go of grief. But what if a person found the grief too painful, and decided that they would rather deny love of any kind than deal with the hurting?
We learn remarkably little about Julie's husband and daughter. They are portrayed as the object rather than the subject of her grief. Our only glimpse of them while they are still alive is a few brief shots where the camera view is either out of focus, or is filming them from behind.
Julie's husband was a composer. At the time of his death, he was working on a choral work celebrating European unity. Or did Julie write his compositions, as some people believed? He had warm words to say about Julie, which is all the more surprising since he was betraying her. His personality is never described to us.
It might be expected that the loss of a child would be the more serious concern that preoccupies Julie, but in fact we learn nothing about her daughter. There are small hints of Julie's feelings. One of the few things that she keeps in her new apartment is a lamp with blue beads that was presumably in her daughter's bedroom.
Later in the movie, Julie acts as a surrogate mother to two women, and provides a home for another child connected to her father. There is also a cruel parody of her motherhood in the mouse that invades her apartment to raise its young.
In depicting Julie's grief, Kieślowski could have dealt with the issue in a manipulative and sentimental manner, but he does not. At least the manipulation is subtle. The story seems to have little drive and direction, but there is a clear path leading to the final scene, and the story has a greater artistic unity than it first appears to show. Even without sentiment, this is one of the most heart-rending portrayals of loss shown on screen.
Kieślowski's films benefit from well-chosen actors. In the case of Blue, Julie is played by Juliette Binoche, an actress who has one of the most expressive faces in cinema. There is little need to put her feelings in words. The pain is evident in her face. There are other moments when Julie's repressed emotions show on the surface. At one point she drags her knuckles along a stone wall until they bleed.
On several occasions, a scene apparently ends with the screen going black and a sudden crescendo of music. Normally this is used in movies to reflect the passage of a period of time. In this film, when the fade-out ends it returns to the same scene at the same moment in time. It is as if a whole era of time has passed for Julie in a single moment.
Julie believes that she must protect herself by cutting herself off from human contact: "I don't want any belongings, any memories. No friends. No love. Those are all traps." She thinks that she can only survive by seeking liberty from human relationships. The story tracks her journey back to accepting that true liberty is found within them.
The musical work composed by Julie's husband seems emblematic of the story. Throughout the film, short extracts from the piece are played, but it is only at the end of the film that a large part of the performances is heard. What is a musical work but a series of notes that have no harmony when played on their own, but which come together to form an artistic whole when played together? To compose the music requires the collaboration of other people. To perform the music requires the efforts of an entire orchestra.
Kieślowski's film too may seem fragmentary at first, but when the parts come together the full impact of Blue is clear. One might even say that it is similar to a musical composition in structure.
I wrote a longer appreciation of Blue on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2021/01/14/three-colours-blue-1993/
I also wrote an overview of the three movies: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2021/01/09/krzysztof-kieslowskis-three-colours-trilogy-an-overview/
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
09/22/23
Full Review
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