Retro Film Review: Three Colours: Blue (Trois couleurs: Bleu, 1993)

USA and Western Europe are supposed to belong to the family of nations built on common culture and political values. However, even without recent misunderstandings, Europe and North America at times look completely alien to each other. The principles upon which those nations have been founded, no matter how clear, noble and simple they might look, are going to be interpreted in different ways. Artists provide even clearer example of similar phenomenon - especially those brave enough to explore something which is supposed to be beyond questioning. Krzysztof Kieslowski, famous Polish director, tried to explore the true meaning of French Revolution's noble ideals in his famous Three Colours trilogy. The first film, 1993 drama Blue, explored the meaning of freedom in today's world.

At the beginning of the film its protagonist Julie (played by Juliette Binoche) is happily married to Patrice (played by Hugues Quester), famous composer with whom she has five year-old daughter. Few seconds later Julie loses everything in a terrible car crash - Patrice and her daughter are killed, while Julie barely survived with serious injury and scarred face. Gradually, the wounds would heal and physical scars would disappear, but psychological damage is quite another matter. After seriously pondering suicide, Julie decides to fight grief by severing all ties with her previous life – she puts her elderly mother in nursing home, sells her country estate, burns all of her husband compositions, including his last unfinished masterwork - Song for United Europe – and moves into apartment in the middle of Paris, hoping that the painful memories would disappear in new environment. There she befriends neighbour Lucille (played by Charlotte Very) and finds out about her husband's best friend Olivier (played by Benoit Regent) having the copy of Song for United Europe.

To say that Kieszlowski's film style - marked by banal everyday details being substitute for action and dialogue - is not for everyone is an understatement. In many ways, Kieszlowski's films could remind of the works of another great Pole, science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem, whose novels usually required a lot of patience and adjustments from average readers before being able to engross them in plots. Blue is also marked by very slow beginning that would test the limits of average viewer's patience; those who pass this test are going to be awarded by very thoughtful examination of the limits of freedom in modern society. Cold, naturalistic style of Kieszlowski is moderated by constant appearance of blue images - used in order to remind heroine of her loss – and Zbigniew Preisner's musical score.

The acting in this film is very good. Juliette Binoche ("Oscar"- awarded for The English Patient, much inferior work), excels in the difficult role that requires her to be in the focus of viewer's attention throughout whole film. However, the ending of the film leaves something to be desired. Zbigniew Preisner's Song for United Europe, with its ivory-tower snobbery and celebration of "European values", sounds like it wandered from some other film. In any case, viewers would hardly accept it as some kind of happy end. On the other hand, even those viewers who don't "get" all hidden meaning of Blue, would probably sense that they had experienced an extraordinary piece of film making.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on June 2nd 2003)

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