Poignantly composed and sublimely acted drama

Rating: 10/10 (2 September 2011)

'Three Colors: Blue' is the first of the trilogy by Krzysztof Kieslowski, a Polish director who wants to convey the French motto of 'Liberty, Equality and Fraternity' through his trilogy, this one taking Liberty as its influence. However, the director's approach is through human emotions rather than political or economic commentary, giving a depth and a Shakespearean complexity to the movie. As Roger Ebert rightly observed, the film is sparse in dialogs and inconspicuous in showing direct emotions but it gives the viewer a chance to ponder and decipher the protagonist's emotions. The silences aren't too long but the viewer can sense the invisible rays coming from Binoche, for example when she enters her house after her husband and child's death, or when she sits at the cafeteria, and the camera focuses on her face. Juliette convincingly manages to underplay such scenes, and that gives more gravity to her emotions and performance.
The plot is simple and revolves around Julie, the wife of a famous composer who along with his child dies in an car crash while Julie survives. Julie wakes up in the hospital, with the camera focusing on her pupils and the reflection of the doctor who informs her about the tragedy. The eyes shed no tear, though Julie's lips quiver and her heart is shattered. She tries committing suicide but cannot, but this results in prolonged psychological suffering as she suddenly decided to leave behind everything and start afresh. She remains cold and apathetic to everything and this disturbs her the most, and she shuns everyone around her, destroys her husband's possessions, makes love to her husband's friend and fellow composer and lives in a hotel. The only instrument she cannot obliterate is the music in her mind, which keeps confronting her to face reality and move on.
Three Colors: Blue is a highly polished film, clocking at one and half hours exactly. To me the movie was flawlessly paced like a symphony- maintaining the atmosphere while playing the notes continuously without stopping. I never found it to be too long or boring, because there is genuinity in the movie, which I found completely lacking in the recent claptrap 'Sucker Punch' which claimed to be complex and artsy, but to me was a hack. I was completely flabbergasted when some viewers were discussing the great art behind the pretentious and opaque 'Sucker Punch'. Blue on the other hand is sublime and realistic- did Julie ever seem pretentious or overbearing to me? No, in fact Juliette portrays her with such truthfulness that I felt a unbroken line in her performance that's seldom found in movies these days. Part of the credit goes to Krzysztov who uses the camera so effectively on her.
The movie apart from its constant references to the title, also has the elements of red and white finely embedded in it. For example, when the prostitute friend of Julie thanks her for refusing to sign the list to throw the former our to 'keep the society clean', she brings white flowers, a symbol of equality. Also, one could find how the lady who requests Julie to sign the list was being deceived by her own licentious husband in the previous scene where he spends the night with the same prostitute (He was the lady's husband, right?). Also, when Julie helps the prostitute in the brothel, the screen becomes red, indicating kinship and sisterhood. Howeve, blue dominates the background whether its the pen used by Julie, or the curios, the swimming pool, the door, the prostitute friend Lucille's overcoat, Patrice's room etc. And never for a moment does it completely dominate the foreground, in fact it subtly rests in the background to reinforce the idea of liberty.
In fact, Julie gets freedom but in order to continue her normal life, she has to rely on her past, as her past influences her. I feel that apart from liberty, the movie pays highlight to influence. I take my country's example. India got independence in 1947, yet it has its British influences. Even though Goa is now free from Portugal's rule over it, it cannot obliterate its past completely as its past keeps influencing it. Take the case of the pauper in the movie who plays his flute on the streets. When Julie places his flute case below his head, he says 'You always got to hold on to something'. In this case, its the music which Julie composed during happier times. Or her scene with the rats, where she is distraught to see the babies being killed, reminding her of her dear child.
The only slight complaint I have with the movie is the final scene where Julie actually sheds a tear, or rather two. For some reason, after going through so much internal pain and struggle just to realize that husband was not faithful to her, and then getting her redemption towards the end, I felt that a stolid face with a tear trickling slowly down Julie's face didn't do much justice and made the scene rather distant. Krzysztof could have injected a trickle of positive melodrama by making her break down in tears. But that's my personal opinion.
I have to disagree with the comment on the poster of the film saying that the movie is 'Mysterious... Sexy!'. To me, its relatable, touching, gritty, compelling and beautiful. My rating: 9.5/10