Trois Couleurs: Bleu

Hello my dear readers! Over the next week and a half or so I will be reviewing a trilogy of films called "The Three Colors Trilogy" which was directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski and marked his first successful adventure in film making in the West. The three films are named after the colors in the French flag (Blue, White and Red) and the main theme of each one of these films is one of the three political ideals in which the French Republic was created (Liberty, Equality and Fraternity).

Today I will be reviewing "Three Colors: Blue". As I mentioned before, the subject of this movie is liberty, specifically emotional liberty rather than social liberty. The film starts out in Paris and follows Julie de Courcy (Juiette Binoche), a woman whose husband (A very famous music composer) and daughter are killed in a car crash that she herself survives. Finding herself suddenly free of emotional bonds she decides to move out of her old house and attempts to cut all ties to her former life. After Julie realizes that she cannot escape her former life she starts working on her late husband's masterpiece; a grand symphony that would be played at the festival of European Unity. And thus Julie dedicates herself to this endeavor while finding out some very interesting facts about his husband and their life together.

The use of symbolism in this film is quite evident, starting with the use of the color blue. In western cultures the color blue is associated with depression, but blue can also be calming and restful. The excessive use of blue filters in this film make it seem like while Julie is certainly depressed from the passing of her family, she is also taking it with a calm attitude that can even be disturbing sometimes.

Music plays another very important role in this film. Being the widow of a music composer and a composer herself one would expect this to be the case. Whenever Julie is about to make an important decision that will move the story forward we hear a haunting yet-soothing piece that embodies the soul of this film.

The photography in “Blue” is amongst the best I have ever seen. The way the beautiful backgrounds embody Binoche's gorgeous face is really something does not get to admire on a daily basis, and give the film a tone that is quite unique and aesthetically pleasing.

Kieślowski's talent permeates through the whole film, and the character he developed for this film is quite memorable, this combined with Juiette Binoche's performance make for a very passionate film that stands up above the rest. “Blue” has a 100% “Fresh” rating on RottenTomatoes and Roger Ebert has included it on his list of “Great Films”.