Wonderful and Powerful

Rating: 9/10 (11 June 2014)

Review In A Nutshell:
Blue tells the tale of a woman who is trying to cope with a recent car accident that involved the death of her husband and child.
Blue is one of those films where one couldn't predict the ending, as there wasn't a measurable goal established during the first or second act of the film and the director was aiming for a sense of realism when shaping the lead protagonist, therefore the character would not be following the traditional path of absolution and instead making one that is tailored for the character. I truly admired Krzysztof Kieslowski's approach with the film as filmmakers these days seem to try their best to cater towards the audience's expectations and resolve the character's story the way that is acceptable for them, which at times hurt the film's emotional and thematic impact. The film doesn't let us get too close to our protagonist, Julie, we never at any moment get inside her head, we only have her actions and her words to shape our perspective of her and I think this approach kind of left me a tad bit detached at some moments and finding it hard to empathise, but I think the director wanted us to not let the film speak itself too frankly, he wants us to keep coming back and observing her, hoping that each visit would let us become closer to the character and develop a unique understanding of who she is, what she is feeling, and how she would get through it.
The film also explores Julie's coping mechanism of her depression and grief. Julie's way of coping is definitely not something a psychiatrist or counsellor would recommend as her remedy is to isolate herself from the objects that could bring about memories of her loved ones. Julie also engages herself in activities like swimming, which at first I thought was her way of distracting herself from the recurring thoughts of her family, as the film went on I started to see what Kieslowski was trying to create with those scenes, she is swimming in her sadness and at times drowning herself in it. This held me back in thinking she is close to moving on with her life, but since the director is going for something more realistic in dealing with depression, I was more willing to let myself accept the decisions that the characters make. Throughout the late second-third act of the film, we are treated to a side of Julie that wasn't primarily seen at the start of the film. We get to see her immerse herself in the art of music, which I found to be highly entertaining as this gives us a glimpse of what she used to be and how talented she was before the tragic event.
I cannot go into high subjective detail on the film's cinematography as I feel that I need to go through this once more before I could properly criticize the choices that both the director and cinematographer have taken. All I could say for now is that the photography of the film captures that distance between us and the protagonist perfectly, no matter how close the camera is we could never fully penetrate her. There were a couple of times where I did feel the use of the color blue was a bit too emphasised in a couple of shots, but then over time I was able to get through it and appreciate it's usage, particularly the scenes that involves Julie swimming in the large pool. The film at times switches between mounted and stable shots to hand held tracking shots. The director is manipulating how much of the character we see, there are times where the film lets us in and at times we only see partially or are too far away from the character.
The film's score was a definitely one of the film's highlights as the score creates this sense of impact during particular moments in the film, accurately representing how she feels at that given moment. The film was clever enough to have the film's protagonist be aware of the music, as the music seems to play as a reminder of the event and at the same time a sense of inspiration in how his husband's magnum opus composition should turn out. Since both the protagonist and the audience can hear the music, we are able to feel a sense of empathy, which is something of a rarity throughout the film.
The film's acting was mainly anchored by Juliette Binoche and she does a wonderful job here. I have only seen the actress on Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy which I thought she did a great job with, but her performance in this film took my perspective of her even further. Binoche is an outstanding actress who definitely deserves more credit than she currently has as when he embodies a role, she does it with such precision that one's previous understanding of the actress would be wiped clean when starting a new film. Just on scenes where the camera captures a close up of her face, she doesn't reveal much but it definitely does not seem hollow, there is something there but one has to look harder in order to obtain it.
Blue is a great film that contains a wonderful and powerful performance from Juliette Binoche and a story that avoids from being predictable. If one places an effort to understand and connect with the character, then one would be left highly rewarded by the end of the film.