Outstanding

Rating: 10/10 (8 September 2008)

Krzysztof Kieslowski was one of the more interesting filmmakers of the last quarter century, and the centerpiece of his claim to greatness is the Three Colors (Trois Couleurs) trilogy of films that he wrote and directed in the early to mid-1990s, filming them all at the same time. Blue, White, and Red represent the three colors of the French flag, and symbolize the three virtues of liberty, equality, and fraternity respectively. Blue (Bleu) is the first film in the series, and was released in 1993. The color blue also resonates for its associations with depression and coldness, that are well demonstrated in the film. It was deserving of the many award sit garnered, such as winning Best Film at the Venice Film Festival and the Goya Awards, as well as star Juliette Binoche (who looks like a prettier Julia Roberts, as well as a better actress) winning Best Actress at Venice and the Cesar Awards.
Yet, Kieslowski made a wise choice to depoliticize his films, for the freedom that Blue deals with is not political but personal and emotional- a hoped for freedom from memories, and not the cheap sort that Hollywood would foist, such as a woman running away from an abusive boyfriend. If only more artists (think Latin American writers) could learn that political statements can be made slyly and subtly and wield far more power than overt preaching. Another wise move he made was to cast this film as a picaresque, whose main character is delineated in small strokes, with scenes that do not drive simple plot not character development, but stand alone and apart as merely defining her state of mind.
The film starts with an automobile accident that kills off a husband and father, the famous musical composer Patrice de Courcy, and his five year old daughter Anna. The only survivor is his wife, named Julie de Courcy neé Vignon (Juliette Binoche). This is foreshadowed when we see a shot of leaking brake fluid from the car when the daughter is let off the side of the road to urinate. Fortunately, the crash occurs off camera, not in the melodramatic style a Hollywood film would drool over. Interestingly, at the end of the film, after the credits, Kieslowski has a sly tweak when he notes that, since the car is an Alfa Romeo, any loss of brake fluid, and the accident, are purely fictional events. When Julie wakes in a hospital we see an extreme close up of her pupil reflecting the image of her doctor. It is an objective shot of subjectivity after Julie regains her consciousness after an unspecified period of time. This ellipsis of death to the opened eye has a great psychic resonance to the viewer, in a way mere words cannot. She recovers, after a fey attempt at suicide by overdose at her hospital, and decides to abandon her country estate and set out for an anonymous life in Paris. In one scene, Julie comes upon her old maid who is crying. She asks, 'Why are you crying?' The maid answers, 'I am crying because you are not.' The rest of the plot has been detailed by others.
I started this review by stating that Krzysztof Kieslowski was one of the more interesting filmmakers of the last quarter century, and I stand by that claim. The only thing a viewing of this film will add to that claim is to append the term great to that description, for Blue is a flat-out masterpiece. It is as mysterious as a work of Antonioni, symbolic as a film of Bergman, humane as a work of Fellini, and precise as a work of Kubrick. That's good company to keep, and this film earns such companionship