About Chocolate Parfaits

Trois Couleurs: Bleu

It’s been ages since I have seen Blanc and Rouge. Back then when they did a Kieslowski retrospective, I have missed out the first one, Bleu and only saw the other two. I am not sure whether it’s a good or a bad thing that there is such a great difference in time between Bleu and the other two, because I cannot help but relating Bleu to the other two nevertheless.

First of all, I actually feel incredibly happy to have finished watching the trilogy, because I’m a horrible completist (as mentioned in my silly posting on Rouge). If I ever decide to start something like this again (The Decalogue, oh god), I will be considering these aspects very carefully, and I will never get over the fact that Emolars is emo, because I want to see Wasington so much. >< Oh by the way, I also have not seen “Breaking the Waves” and don’t miss it despite my love for “The Idiots” and “Dancer in the Dark”, so perhaps I’m not that bad of a completist?

I think I remember Shii saying that he considers Bleu the best of the three movies. Actually, I totally, totally agree with him: First, Bleu uses the color of a dark and intense, almost unnatural blue quite aggressively and it greatly contributes to the atmosphere in my opinion. It makes me want one of those silly, kitsch blue lampshades – and I usually hate these types of decorative home accessories with a passion. Second, the story of Bleu was simple, but executed in quite a beautiful way. I have watched the extra in which Kieslowski explains the rationale behind the scene with the piece of sugar dipped into the coffee – although I think that he’s being a bit overly anal about the length of the scene, I think it was the best scene of the movie and shows what a great director he is in my book. Which brings me to my final point: I think that the pacing, the atmosphere and the whole execution of the movie was spectacular. I admit that I have found the main character to be a little bit too emo for my taste, but apart from this, I love how the story was build up and finally ended with a very hopeful touch. I especially liked how the main character supported her husband’s maîtresse.

All in all, Blanc is still my personal favorite. Julie Delpy in a love-hate-relationship is so absolutely priceless, even this movie could not compare. I have a weakness for how Kieslowski depicts passionate love (Decalogue 6 or “A short story about love” come to mind as well), but I’m not sure if anybody besides me has this particular taste. However, if I had to recommend one of the three, it’d definitely be Bleu, the most delicate, atmospheric and the same time the most straight-forward of all the Kieslowski movies I have seen so far.

Just like Sam Mendes (as I have randomly discovered today), Kieslowski actually didn’t produce all that much, but all of them have been very memorable for me. I absolutely want to see “La double vie de Véronique” and “Przypadek” (Blind Chance) too one day.

By the way, I have realized again how incredibly bad my shelf organization actually is. For Blanc, there are 5 possibilities of where the DVD might be: under 3 for “3 Colors”, under B for “Blanc”, D for “Drei Farben”, under T for “Trois Couleurs” or W for “Weiß”. (At least the possibilities for the polish and the french title are the same.) So, what do you think where I have put it it to?