Three Colours: Blue
Mar. 10th, 2005 06:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
For two months or so now I've wanted to post commentary on the Three Colours movies. About time I started doing it. :-)
Interest in these three movies was first kindled in me by Adam Cadre's (
adamcadre) reviews, here, here and here. There's cool commentary there, and I urge you to read them.
But first things first. Not so much of a review as random commentary to follow on Three Colours: Blue. A movie which I feel justifies by itself the existence of movies as a medium, more than any other movie I've yet seen.
Not by it being necessarily the *best* movie I've seen, or the one I've most enjoyed or anything like that. But simply by mixing music, imagery and emotion in a way that's more lovely than any other. Flashes of colour or blackness at critical moments, and bursts of music as the protagonist (Julie) remembers. We hear the hymn as it's traced by a finger. And when the paper is ripped to pieces, the music gets distorted.
Sheer beauty.
The Three Colours movies are each meant to deal with a concept from the motto of the French revolution, liberty, equality, fraternity. Blue's for liberty -- in the philosophical not the political sense: read Adam Cadre's comments on that one, no need here to repeat most of what he said.
Except on the part I disagree with him, ofcourse: Liberty from possession, liberty from friendships, liberty from love, liberty from memory, liberty from fear -- it's not just whether such a situation is desirable or not, it's whether it's even possible. Having been rich before, Julie is ofcourse "free" to sell her possessions and keep simply her bank account, having enough there not to want for anything again in her life (hah! pun unintentional but fitting). But liberty from friendship? She didn't actually desire one, but by mere *inaction* she initiated it, when she refused to sign up in condemning the prostitute next-door. And when the woman called for her aid, the protagonist, being herself, went to help and cemented the friendship most thoroughly.
Seeking or not, she found a friend by the mere fact of being who she was -- not a person to condemn another, not a person to neglect a plea for help.
Liberty from memory - hah! One more lovely scene as she tries to drown away in the swimming pool the recurring memory of the music she attempted unsuccessfully to destroy. And a sweetly heartbreaking scene, when a whole throng of little girls rushes to the swimming pool, even though we know she had attempted to isolate herself from the presence of children. The look in her face is just "gah!". :-)
And liberty from fear? It's probably not coincidence that the thing we see her fear most in the movie is something that's unrelated to the fear of loss -- it's merely the irrational fear of mice. Not all suffering comes from unfulfilled desire or loss.
Liberty from any of these is largely impossible -- unless you are in a position similar to the protagonist's mother, with Altzheimer's rotting away the mind.
Liberty is supposed to be the concept of the movie, corresponding to the blue of the French flag. But the overwhelming emotion seems to be grief. The question arose in my mind, whether it's entirely coincidental that "blue" also has connotations of sorrow in some countries like the US. Do such connotations between "sorrow" and "blue" exist in France or Poland? This is probably a coincidence, though.
Liberty as concept, grief as overwhelming emotion... and also the idea of "love". Given the other movies, I wondered if each movie was supposed to deal with different aspects of love -- blue movie with the love for the close circle of people you know and may lose: family, friends, children and loved ones. White movie with selfish jealous love that desires to possess and control. Red movie with universal love that just is.
*g* Wondering however whether each of the three movies also dealt with different aspects of *sorrow*, wasn't nearly as successful however. Blue movie fits perfectly well for "grief of loss" as opposed to Red movie's "depression", but trying to fit a consistent theme of grief with the white movie, doesn't seem to me to fit very much. Ah well. :-)
More random commentary:
A week or so after I saw the Blue movie, I happened to see again "Fight Club" -- I was amused at the parallel that the protagonists of both movies want to rid themselves of possession in order to attain freedom. There's where the movies diverge ofcourse. Tyler Durden is an utterly self-loathing SOB who hates possession because he hates consumerism and whatever other reason in his messed-up brain. (no time or desire on my part to analyze Fight Club here) -- his utopian/dystopian vision of the future is one where post-apocalyptic "Man" hunts gazelles with spears in the ruins of New York.
Such a vision has nothing to do with freedom ofcourse: People needing to spend all their waking hours struggling for survival aren't any more free to be themselves than people blindly and crazily following the latest consumerist fashion. Julie, and even Julie's Altzheimer mother, both understand that you need to keep enough to survive.
Last but not least: I was vaguely amused (though that's not the proper word really) by the mention of the European Union in the movie, and the semi-significant role it plays there, given how large part of the movie revolves around a hymn for the celebration of the European Union that Julie's husband was hired to do -- EU, blue again the colour. (Btw, yhe only other movie I remember seeing the EU is a silly little B-movie about the head of the EU being the Antichrist ofcourse -- *rolls eyes*)
Given the attention to detail by Kieslowski, I don't think his mentioning the European Union is utterly without a thematic point -- reference to European unity. Unity in opposition to freedom? Ofcourse that's what Julie attempted: independence from everything and everyone in efforts to achieve freedom.
Such solitude and independence is an illusion ofcourse, and either way it's not the opposite of freedom. Freedom means the ability to either be alone or with others, as one wishes.
The song dedicated to European unity (as we hear it in the end) ends up being a song praising the virtue of love with words straight out of the bible, played over the ending scenes as we see the faces of everyone connected with bonds of friendship or love with Julie.
And here's my EU-relevant political comment to the point, as a jab against everyone who think that losing sovereignty or even independence is the same as losing freedom: Not all groups of nations need be either herds or packs. Some are just families. The loss of "national freedom" that I've seen many eurosceptics worry about, even in a wholly voluntary union such as the EU, seems more like the desire of Julie to get rid of all connections with the world around her -- an independence from the world that is neither desirable nor possible.
Having just today first read "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis, I was intrigued to find relevant comments about the connection between love, freedom and unity there as well. But no more time for such an extended discussion, and besides I'd like to read the book a couple more times before I feel like discussing it. :-)
Anyway, I *love* this movie. Most heartily recommended.
And if any paragraphs in this review don't make any sense at all, it's because it's way past time I should go to bed. Will correct any mistakes tomorrow. :-)
Interest in these three movies was first kindled in me by Adam Cadre's (
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
But first things first. Not so much of a review as random commentary to follow on Three Colours: Blue. A movie which I feel justifies by itself the existence of movies as a medium, more than any other movie I've yet seen.
Not by it being necessarily the *best* movie I've seen, or the one I've most enjoyed or anything like that. But simply by mixing music, imagery and emotion in a way that's more lovely than any other. Flashes of colour or blackness at critical moments, and bursts of music as the protagonist (Julie) remembers. We hear the hymn as it's traced by a finger. And when the paper is ripped to pieces, the music gets distorted.
Sheer beauty.
The Three Colours movies are each meant to deal with a concept from the motto of the French revolution, liberty, equality, fraternity. Blue's for liberty -- in the philosophical not the political sense: read Adam Cadre's comments on that one, no need here to repeat most of what he said.
Except on the part I disagree with him, ofcourse: Liberty from possession, liberty from friendships, liberty from love, liberty from memory, liberty from fear -- it's not just whether such a situation is desirable or not, it's whether it's even possible. Having been rich before, Julie is ofcourse "free" to sell her possessions and keep simply her bank account, having enough there not to want for anything again in her life (hah! pun unintentional but fitting). But liberty from friendship? She didn't actually desire one, but by mere *inaction* she initiated it, when she refused to sign up in condemning the prostitute next-door. And when the woman called for her aid, the protagonist, being herself, went to help and cemented the friendship most thoroughly.
Seeking or not, she found a friend by the mere fact of being who she was -- not a person to condemn another, not a person to neglect a plea for help.
Liberty from memory - hah! One more lovely scene as she tries to drown away in the swimming pool the recurring memory of the music she attempted unsuccessfully to destroy. And a sweetly heartbreaking scene, when a whole throng of little girls rushes to the swimming pool, even though we know she had attempted to isolate herself from the presence of children. The look in her face is just "gah!". :-)
And liberty from fear? It's probably not coincidence that the thing we see her fear most in the movie is something that's unrelated to the fear of loss -- it's merely the irrational fear of mice. Not all suffering comes from unfulfilled desire or loss.
Liberty from any of these is largely impossible -- unless you are in a position similar to the protagonist's mother, with Altzheimer's rotting away the mind.
Liberty is supposed to be the concept of the movie, corresponding to the blue of the French flag. But the overwhelming emotion seems to be grief. The question arose in my mind, whether it's entirely coincidental that "blue" also has connotations of sorrow in some countries like the US. Do such connotations between "sorrow" and "blue" exist in France or Poland? This is probably a coincidence, though.
Liberty as concept, grief as overwhelming emotion... and also the idea of "love". Given the other movies, I wondered if each movie was supposed to deal with different aspects of love -- blue movie with the love for the close circle of people you know and may lose: family, friends, children and loved ones. White movie with selfish jealous love that desires to possess and control. Red movie with universal love that just is.
*g* Wondering however whether each of the three movies also dealt with different aspects of *sorrow*, wasn't nearly as successful however. Blue movie fits perfectly well for "grief of loss" as opposed to Red movie's "depression", but trying to fit a consistent theme of grief with the white movie, doesn't seem to me to fit very much. Ah well. :-)
More random commentary:
A week or so after I saw the Blue movie, I happened to see again "Fight Club" -- I was amused at the parallel that the protagonists of both movies want to rid themselves of possession in order to attain freedom. There's where the movies diverge ofcourse. Tyler Durden is an utterly self-loathing SOB who hates possession because he hates consumerism and whatever other reason in his messed-up brain. (no time or desire on my part to analyze Fight Club here) -- his utopian/dystopian vision of the future is one where post-apocalyptic "Man" hunts gazelles with spears in the ruins of New York.
Such a vision has nothing to do with freedom ofcourse: People needing to spend all their waking hours struggling for survival aren't any more free to be themselves than people blindly and crazily following the latest consumerist fashion. Julie, and even Julie's Altzheimer mother, both understand that you need to keep enough to survive.
Last but not least: I was vaguely amused (though that's not the proper word really) by the mention of the European Union in the movie, and the semi-significant role it plays there, given how large part of the movie revolves around a hymn for the celebration of the European Union that Julie's husband was hired to do -- EU, blue again the colour. (Btw, yhe only other movie I remember seeing the EU is a silly little B-movie about the head of the EU being the Antichrist ofcourse -- *rolls eyes*)
Given the attention to detail by Kieslowski, I don't think his mentioning the European Union is utterly without a thematic point -- reference to European unity. Unity in opposition to freedom? Ofcourse that's what Julie attempted: independence from everything and everyone in efforts to achieve freedom.
Such solitude and independence is an illusion ofcourse, and either way it's not the opposite of freedom. Freedom means the ability to either be alone or with others, as one wishes.
The song dedicated to European unity (as we hear it in the end) ends up being a song praising the virtue of love with words straight out of the bible, played over the ending scenes as we see the faces of everyone connected with bonds of friendship or love with Julie.
And here's my EU-relevant political comment to the point, as a jab against everyone who think that losing sovereignty or even independence is the same as losing freedom: Not all groups of nations need be either herds or packs. Some are just families. The loss of "national freedom" that I've seen many eurosceptics worry about, even in a wholly voluntary union such as the EU, seems more like the desire of Julie to get rid of all connections with the world around her -- an independence from the world that is neither desirable nor possible.
Having just today first read "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis, I was intrigued to find relevant comments about the connection between love, freedom and unity there as well. But no more time for such an extended discussion, and besides I'd like to read the book a couple more times before I feel like discussing it. :-)
Anyway, I *love* this movie. Most heartily recommended.
And if any paragraphs in this review don't make any sense at all, it's because it's way past time I should go to bed. Will correct any mistakes tomorrow. :-)