The second film from my Blindspot series of this year is the first movie out of the “Three Colors” trilogy. The three colors that are those of the French flag, blauw, white and red. The themes those colors represent are freedom, equality and brotherhood and each of these movies is based on these colors and its meaning. These movie have been written and directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski and have been om my to watch list for years. And now I have seen the first one!
Julie (Juliette Binoche), is a woman who ends up alone after a tragic car accident. Her husband was a well-known and celebrated composer with whom she had a daughter. When she wakes up in the hospital she hears she is the only one who has survived the crash and it is up to her to find her way in life again. She decides to break completely free from her past. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with her old house, moves without telling anyone and tries not to start any new relationships. But still the events from the past keep following her as she hears the music her husband wrote or when an old friend accidentally meets her and tells her he wants to finish a piece of music he was working on. Slowly she finds out that she has to take action, even though she wants to be free from her past.
The color blue is prominent in the movie and adds to the feeling that Julie wants to act cold, not wanting to care about anything (even herself). She has experienced something she never wants to think of again and she surpresses the feeling. Kieślowski tells Julie’s story beautifully, not only by color, but also by using sound very effectively. It all results in an impressive experience.
As a viewer you care for Julie, understand what she is struggling with but als see that she isn’t able to get the control she is longing for as there are too many factors she will never be able to take control of. The pain she feels is acted out so well by Binoche as is shown in a scene where she discovers baby mice in her apartment. She simply can’t make herself kill them as it would be too painful.
As the first film from the trilogy I was really impressed by it and can’t wait to find out if the other two movies manage to maintain (or rise above) the high bar that has been set by this one.
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They do! Red is my favorite of the trilogy. It’s an astonishing film, and a brilliant climax. White is very different tonally (it’s a black comedy) but it is very well made. Hope you like the rest of the trilogy.
I have now watched the other ones and this one remains my favourite. Reviews of the other ones coming up soon!
While this is my favorite film of the trilogy and by Kieslowski, the entire trilogy itself is just an absolute work of art. I just hope more of Kieslowski’s work gets released through Criterion.
It is my favourite as well as I now seen them all. I do want to check out more of Kieslowski’s work, so will start with his Dekalog soon (after finishing some other TV shows I’m currently watching)