Extraordinary use of music

Rating: 9/10 (26 July 1999)

The cover of the box in which this movie comes says "Mysterious. Sexy." Blue is not really either one. It is very straightforward, and sexual where appropriate, but not at all sexy. It is very pretty, and it is very, very intense.
My American prejudice forces me to assume that any movie in French will be visually stimulating. I expect gorgeous locations, pretty people not necessarily model-perfect but dripping with style, and fabulous scene compositions. In this aspect, Blue certainly does not disappoint. Blue is also extremely well-acted, and overall a touching, sensitive, and honest exploration of grief. However, the aspect I most want to comment on is the way sound, particularly music, is implemented in this film. It's absolutely ingenious.
Most films addressing dramatic events or tough emotional situations seem nowadays to hammer in their points with overblown music -- violins for sentiment, bassoons for majestic landscapes, drums for suspense and action. Audiences are not allowed to simply let the experiences the actors are delivering wash over us and sink in naturally; we must constantly be ordered to notice each nuance through the insistent blare of overweening musical backup. The most refreshing aspect of Blue is that it does not do this at all.
Natural ambient sound is the most frequent background in Blue. This is shockingly effective. Ordinary noise -- traffic, or the sounds of a person moving around a room alone -- provide all the atmosphere necessary to make us feel what is being conveyed. Surprising sounds surprise us. Startling noises startle us. We feel everything that each sound makes each character feel, because we have experienced it in exactly the same way.
The only place that the very wonderful music is used is when the protagonist or another character of the world of music thinks. The protagonist is a musical woman, a composer and a composer's wife, and it is perfectly right that she should feel and think everything first in music. When she or someone else reads music, we hear what is being read, just like a voiceover. When the protagonist is impacted by an image, an utterance, or a memory, we are impacted by the musical chords by which her mind and heart respond first.
This is not only very effective, but it's also very respectful of the actors and of the audience. I have never, ever had the pleasure of a film experience like this before. Although the film falls apart a little at the end, rushing where it shouldn't and turning slightly derivative of Wings of Desire, and although it's probably not a movie I'd watch twice since half its impact is based on not knowing what will happen next, it is a very good film and definitely worth watching just for this amazing experience of hearing music and sound handled so expertly and with such dignity.