A Re-released Film You Shouldn’t Miss This Time!
Of course I am hinting at Polish director Krzystof Kieslowski’s Trois Couleurs: Bleu. It is 30 years ago this film was issued as the first one of a trilogy. In 1994 Blue was followed by the other two: White and Red. Together they were envisioned by Kieslowski, who was at that time working in France, as an exploration of the concepts of liberty, equality and fraternity, as symbolized in the colors of the French flag.
Blue has as its theme liberty. But it is not the conventional notion of outer liberation that Kieslowski is occupied with. He is exploring how we can become free on the inside, free from ambitions, expectations, disappointments and people, in particular when everything seems to fall apart. How can we reclaim our life when fate has turned against us? This is the struggle of Julie, the wife of a famous composer who is working on a huge project: a symphony commissioned by the European Council. Early in the film on their way home their car crashes due to a technical cause and both her husband and her 6-year old daughter die in the crash. It leaves Julie seriously injured with a traumatic aftershock.
The grief and pain leads her to try to wipe out everything that reminds her of her past, both belongings and relationships. She puts up her beautiful country estate for sale, moving into an anonymous apartment in Paris. She tries to destroy all the music manuscripts she can find and avoids people, even her closest ones. But life doesn’t allow her to disappear, whatever she tries. Small moments and chance encounters, combined with the music that forcefully at particular moments pops up in her, lead her back to reconnecting with the world. Isolation can only help for a while, but true liberation can only be found in connecting with others.
Juliette Binoche, who portrays Julie, this haunted, deeply sad, anguished woman who has lost everything and yet finds a way back to a life of love and serenity, is fantastic and real. The music and the colors are two more reasons to see this film for the first time or to watch it once again!
Rinus Baljeu, April 2023
1 Comment
Submit a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Recent Posts
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop
The Korean writer Hwang Bo-Reum has previously written several essay collections. This is her first novel. The book’s protagonist Yeongju did everything she was supposed to do: Go to university, marry a decent man, get a respectable job. Then it all fell apart. Burned out, she abandons her old life, quits her high-flying career and starts to follow her dream. She opens a bookshop.
The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin
The Music of Bees, debut novel by Eileen Garvin, is a thoughtful, life-affirming story that invites the reader to consider the healing power of community. It is present day rural Oregon; a region dotted with fruit farms as well as other agricultural endeavors.
Films with a Common Theme: Difficulty in Close Relationships
The past week I happened to see three 2025 films that had in common the theme of pains and deficits in close relationships…
We watched this film together some years ago with a group of friends in Italy and found it an incredible shared experience. It gave us more reality than we had before seeing it. I concur, it is definitely a film not to miss seeing, and talking about with fellow journeyers.