Trois Couleurs: Bleu (1993)
Renowned Polish director, Krzysztof Kieslowski, said that his two greatest inspirations are life and literature, and that fiction is the best medium through which to convey truth. The trilogy, Three Colors, is considered among his greatest achievements, a classic of modern film. Each film tells a story representing the French Revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity, respectively, the colors of the French flag - blue, white and red. Death opens the trilogy with Blue, created just three years before the director’s own death.
After a car crash claims the lives of her husband, a famous composer, and young daughter Anna, Julie (Juliette Binoche) attempts to rid herself of her possessions and her memories in order to start over, living in anonymity and solitude. However, despite the distance death imparts on her life there is an intimate closeness that persists, marking the intense humanness of the film with regard to universal themes of love and loss. It seems the deeper Julie tries to sink into oblivion, the more intense the needs of others press upon her conscience and call her back from her endeavors of escape.
Centered on the theme of freedom, ultimately the greatest freedom presented in Blue becomes the choice of life. Paradoxically, this means inescapable contingency and limitation. Author and professor Annette Insdorf, featured in the DVD extras says, “There’s somehow a responsibility to life continuing that goes against liberty, which Kieslowski embraces at the end.” It is only in accepting and affirming life, thus mortality, that the truth at the heart of freedom is expressed.
Jennifer Dawson
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Grading
- Story A-
- Acting A-
- Visuals A
- Originality/Innovation A-
- Enjoyability A
- Overall A-
- DVD Extras A-
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