Artful melodrama, though not flawless

Rating: 7/10 (24 November 2007)

"Blue" is an emotional study of a woman trying to cope with the sudden loss of her husband and daughter.
The pacing is moderate which is fine during the first hour, but since there is no tight storyline to follow, the last third is a bit strenuous.
One of the strength of the movie is the unique use of music in connection with fade into black. I think its intention is to show how much music is inside the character of Juliette Binoche. Due to her mourning she is trying to suppress this music but it still finds its way to the surface.
The movie contains some very impressive closeups, i.e. a feather on a blanket, a reflecting eye shot, a piece of sugar which is soaked up with coffee, etc . I think it underlines the inner conflicts and sadness of the protagonist, who is trying to shield herself from what is going on around her.
The color blue is nicely present everywhere. In particular I enjoyed the exquisite scenes in the swimming pool.
I was disappointed by a subplot with a young woman who is a neighbor and works in the red light district. I know that Kyszlowski didn't want to explain everything in his movies and leave room for interpretation. But here it seems to me that they had to take some scenes out of the movie which leaves this subplot underdeveloped.