The World in Three Colors (Blue / White / Red)

Recently I've managed to watch this wonderfully filmed movie trilogy which had really beautiful cinematography...

Here is some information on the trilogy:
Three Colors: Blue is the first part of Kieslowski's trilogy on France's national motto: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. Blue is the story of Julie (Juliette Binoche), who loses her husband, an acclaimed European composer and her young daughter in a car accident. The film's theme of liberty is manifested in Julie's attempt to start life anew free of personal commitments, belongings grief and love. She intends to spiritually commit suicide by withdrawing from the world and live completely independently, anonymously and in solitude in the Parisian metropolis. Despite her intentions, people from her former and present life intrude with their own needs. However, the reality created by the people who need and care about her, a surprising discovery and the music around which the film revolves heals Julie and irresistably draws her back to the land of the living.

Three Colors: White is the second part of the trilogy on Equality. Polish man Karol (Zbigniew Zamachowski) marries French female Domininque (Julie Delpy) and moves to Paris. The marriage breaks down when Karol is unable to consummate the marriage, and Dominique divorces Karol, forcing him into the life of a metro beggar and eventually back to Poland. But all along, he feels that the reason that he never got a fair trial is because he did not speak French. He never forgets Dominique and while building a new life for himself in Warsaw he begins to plot his revenge... He ends up as a wealthy businessman and makes a will to give all his money and properties to Dominique when he dies. Then with the help of his brother, a faithful friend, and his chauffeur, he fakes his own death to force Dominque to go to Poland. Upon seeing her weep at his funeral, he visits her and spends a night with her. The very next morning, the Polish police barges into her room on a warrant that she is suspected to have murdered Karol for the inheritance. She is jailed and Karol is seen visiting her in the prison. But he can only stand afar and look at her trapped in her cell, signing to him...

Three Colors: Red is the final part of the trilogy on Fraternity. Valentine (Irene Jacob) is a young model living in Geneva. Because of a dog she ran over, she meets a retired judge who spies his neighbours' phone calls, not for money but to feed his cynicism. The film is the story of relationships between some human beings, Valentine and the judge, but also other people who may not be aware of the relationship they have with Valentine or/and the old judge. Redemption, forgiveness and compassion... Valentine frequently crosses paths with Auguste, a law student studying to become a judge. Both of them are attached - Valentine to a boyfriend that frequently travels overseas and is rarely with her; and Auguste to a blonde law senior. Auguste's girlfriend meets another guy during the trial of the old judge (he sent letters admitting that he spies on his neighbours to his neighbours and the police). She cheats on him. He goes on a vacation cruise, where Valentine is also going on to go for a fashion show, and to visit her boyfriend. What they don't know is that what happened to the guy is exactly the same as what happened to the old judge. The cruise meets with an accident and only 7 survivors are found, amongst whom are Julie (Juliette Binoche) and Olivier from Blue, Domininque (Julie Delpy) and Karol (Zbigniew Zamachowski) from White, and of course Valentine (Irene Jacob) and Auguste...


My observations and comments:
1. Beautiful Cinematography
One can literally see, feel, hear, smell and taste what the visuals were trying to convey in the scene to us. It was a sensory experience.

Clever use of lighting was blatant in Blue, where the opening started with a defocused shot of the blue crystal lamp shade that Julie had in her house, played against the light. It was iconic and symbolic, and yet subtle and beautiful at the same time.

The opening of Red caught me by surprise, as it reminded me of a scene in Royston Tan's '15' which also had speeded up shots of the camera running through the telephone lines, pipes, expressways, etc... I guess he might have gotten his inspiration from this movie...


2. Great Sense of Continuity through use of dominant and iconic colours
Needless to say the iconic colours were blue, white and red respectively in each of the movies, which shows that it is not that cliche a technique to use to create a subtle or blatant sense of continuity in a movie. You'll see the colours appearing in various ways in the form objects or costume.

In Blue, it appears as the lamp shade in Julie's house, and a blue light of various shapes and sizes shining on her when she goes into her own world. Further into the movie, the blue light shines in smaller and smaller shapes and sizes, until a black screen comes up whenever she retreats totally into her own world to flush out the past.

In White, I only can remember seeing white in the snow in Poland, and the pigeons present in many points in the movie, the white porcelain bust that Karol has, and Dominque's wedding veil. It is not as frequent as the other two movies. Maybe it's a hint or pun that there is a lack of equality, compared to the other two movies, as well as in the movie.

In Red, the colour is most prominant throughout the movie. Valentine is almost always dressed in red whenever she appears. And her bubblegum ad is blatantly set against a dominant red backdrop, down to the blood of the dog she knocked down, and even Auguste's Jeep is red in colour. Subtle, yet in your face.


3. Emotive Music that provided strong support to visuals and creation and maintenance of mood
The music in all three movies is very grabbing. It helped to get me into feeling the way the characters would have felt in the movie. I think Blue's use of music is the most grabbing, especially during the parts where there were only black on screen with heavy and strong music playing on.


4. Strong Storyline and Definitive Plot that drives home the themes
The first film in the trilogy is Blue, which is meant to represent freedom. Blue is the story of Julie (Juliette Binoche), the wife of a famous composer who had been creating a piece to commemorate the unification of Europe. However, at the beginning of the film, her husband and five year old daughter are killed in a car crash. Unable to bring herself to suicide, Julie instead leaves her former life behind in an only semi-successful attempt to reinvent herself, despite the love of a colleauge of her husband's, Olivier (Benoit Regent).

The second film is White, symbolizing equality. White tells us of Karol (Zbigniew Zamachowski), a polish man living in France. His french wife Dominique (Julie Deply) divorces him after only six months because he is impotent and even frames him for arson. Having lost everything, he returns to Poland, where a suicidal friend named Mikolai (Janusz Gajos) helps him create a strange revenge against his lover.

The final film is Red, representing the ideal of fraternity. In Red, Valentine (Irene Jacob), a Swiss model living in Paris stumbles across an elderly retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who uses surveillance equipment to eavesdrop on his neighbours. Instead of being repelled, her nature causes her to form an unlikely friendship with this man, and their bond has echoes beyond themselves - most notably with Valentine's young neighbour, a fellow Swiss citizen named Auguste (Jean-Pierre Lorit).


5. Attention-grabbing performances by cast
I think the cast did a great job in all three movies. Juliette Binoche was very captivating in her role in Blue and it won her an Oscar too I think. As for White, I thought Zbigniew Zamachowski was really grabbing. His performance made me start to feel pity for the character, and I found myself saying "Poor guy... so poor thing...". For Red, I think the old judge and Irene Jacob had a really good chemistry between their acting. You can sense something more that they feel for one another, be it father-daughter or maybe even man-woman relationship...


6. Funny add-on - Funny old folks trying to throw a glass bottle into a quirky looking recycling bin???
I noticed that in all three movies, an old folk (old lady in Blue and Red, and old man in White) were trying to throw a glass bottle into a quirky looking bin (which I reckon is a recycling bin). But even though they struggle for very long, and the shot lingers on them, the cast never offers any form of assistance. Well except for Valentine in Red, who helps the old lady push the bottle into the bin and we hear it crashing. I'm not too sure what it was meant to symbolise, but maybe it shows that the first two are too self-centered and focused on their own problems that they never show any concern or interest to greater things happening around them - i.e. social problems like ageing population, consideration, courtesy, etc. Or maybe he was trying to promote recycling efforts?? I don't know...


7. Use of Transnational Characters set in France - French, Polish and Swiss
Blue's cast is all French. Julie is French, Olivier is French.

White's cast is half French, half Polish. Dominique is French. Karol is Polish.

Red's cast is Swiss and ???. Valentine is Swiss. Auguste is Swiss. I don't know if the old judge is Swiss or French since it is set in Paris.

They are all in France. Although White moves to Poland when Karol returns home after the divorce.


Click on the link above for more reviews and information on the movie trilogy...

Cheerio,
Same Old Movie Buff

“霍元甲” / "Fearless"

你看了“霍元甲”了没儿？

若你还没看“霍元甲”，你听到了同名的主题曲了没儿 ?

是周杰伦写曲的。。。

MV 也是他导的！！！

真是不能不对他刮目相看。。。

独特的LOCKING扇舞。。。

配搭了中国嘻哈风格的编曲。。。

还有周董的招牌三节棍。。。

真是看得我只有“哇哇哇。。。"

My brush with dengue... during Chinese New Year...

I've officially hit rock bottom in my luck...

I had fever a week before Chinese New Year!!!

My fever started on Sat21 Jan and lasted till Mon 23 Jan. There was a break from the fever on Tue 24 Jan, so I thought I was cured... I just survived on Panadol alone, endured my muscle aches, and didn't bother to see a doctor...

But it wasn't over...

It had something else in stall for me...

On Wed 25 Jan, the day when I was supposed to go for a premiere for "I Not Stupid Too" with my cousins... My fever came back at full force... And I mean FULL FORCE...

I was shivering like crazy from the slightest draft that came into my house... I had to wear the thickest long sleeved top for the premiere, and I still brought along a jacket... but it was still not enough... once I stepped into the cinema, I immediately felt shivers going through my body... fortunately my cousins had brought along couduroy jackets, and I put them to good use... Throughout the entire show I was wrapped up like an Eskimo in the 3 layers of clothing... And it could only barely keep me warm...

By the time I reached home, I already felt nauseus and wanted to puke really badly... This is a lesson, NOT to eat fast food when you are sick... I ate a double cheese burger for dinner... and apparently it didn't go too well with the sick body... I puked everything out once I managed to get myself into the toilet...

The very next day, Thu 26 Jan, I went with my mum to see my family doctor... He immediately did a blood test for me, and the results came back that my blood platelets level was lower than the average at 110. Normal blood platelets levels range from 150 to 450. For those that don't know, blood platelets help your blood clot and stop bleeding when you get a cut... So if you have insufficient of them, you can bleed to death whether you get an external, or an internal cut... So if you have dengue, be careful of your blood platelets level. And since your blood pressure will also decrease, you might feel giddy easily, so have to be extra careful when you move around...

He gave me some medicine, and I was told to go back for another blood test the next day on Fri 27 Jan.

This time my blood platelets level hit an all time low of 41... I was immediately advised to get myself into a hospital in case my internal organs bleed... By this time, my fever had already totally subsided...

At the hospital, I was told to inform the nurses, whenever I needed to relieve myself, or simply do anything... Cos I was supposed to rest in bed, and not move around at all... Another series of blood tests were done... A total of 3 bottles, and 5 test tubes of my blood was drawn that afternoon... What made it worse was that as my "ward-mates" were all old ladies... they were bed-ridden, and kept calling out for the nurses whenever they needed to relieve themselves, or pretty much do anything... so the WHOLE night I was kept awake by their shouting and the bright lights from the nurse station directly opposite my bed... Yes I was in Class C wards... open wards... What made it even harder for me to sleep was that an old lady was hospitalised at the wee hours of the night, and she was transfered to the bed right next to me... So pardon the scurry of activities and buzz of sons, doctors and nurses around her bed... I only got 1 or 2 hours of intermittent sleep...


Day 1 Fri 27 Jan (blood platelets level hitting an all time low of 41):Hand with pipe & ID tag lying on hosipital bed with nothing better to do...

Day 2 Sat 28 Jan, which was also Chinese New Year's Eve... I had to spend it in the hospital with 3 old ladies... As my blood platelets test on Fri 27 Jan when I came into the hospital was 44, and Sat 28 Jan's was only an increase of 1 to 45... Not up to acceptable level to be discharged yet... Of cos it would be low, I had so little sleep yesterday night cos of the buzz of activities...

Day 3 Sun 29 Jan, first day of Chinese New Year... Not only was I unable to watch the festive programmes... I was unable to collect Ang Pows.... And I had to spend my time in the hospital... On the bed... How boring... I never felt so bored and restless in my life before... And my blood platelets went up to 73 only... But the doctor gave me false hope that I could be discharged, as the levels were showing an upward trend... After informing everyone that I can be discharged... I overheard the nurse asking the on-call doctor if I could be discharged... And to my biggest dismay... He said the doctor said that they still had to wait for my dengue and blood culture tests' results which were not out yet... so I had to stay ANOTHER DAY to wait for the results... Just to be on the safe side... TALK ABOUT POURING A BUCKET OF COLD WATER ON YOU WHEN YOU ARE IN THE SNOW!!! And by this time, I was already very fed up and desperately wanted to go home to get a good night's sleep, cos peace and silence are REALLY RARE traits here... Complaining and nagging old ladies nagging about the bland food... Complaining about their aches and pains... I didn't know how much moaning and groaning I could take before I would break down...

Day 4 Mon 30 Jan, second day of Chinese New year... Again I was waiting for my daily drawing of blood at 6.30am every morning... but this day there was no needles in sight... Apparently the doctor thought that since my blood platelets were showing a rising trend, there was no need to do anymore tests... So I was basically still in the hospital for the sole purpose of waiting for my dengue and blood culture results... Alas another doctor came in for the day due to Chinese New Year... Most doctors were on leave... This doctor (I overheard another doctor addressing him as a Professor) deduced that it was definitely dengue that I had, and there was no need for me to stick around just to wait for the results. So he advised for another blood test to be done for the day, and as long as the blood platelets levels were higher than yesterday's 73, I could be discharged!!! Blood was only drawn at 9am... And around 11.30am, the nurse reminded the on-call doctor that my results were not out yet... As I had to be discharged before 1pm, or there would be another day's charges... So finally he called the lab, and the results came back as 173 (within the normal range), and finally I was given the green light to be discharged...



Day 4 (day I left the hospital with 173 blood platelets level): CU hand with pipe... Going to remove pipe soon...

Day 4 (left hospital, on my way home): there is a silver lining behind every cloud...


Day 6 ( back at home): green blue black patch on arm from drawing of blood for 3 bottles & 5 test tubes on day 1...


Close Up of the greenish blue black patch on my arm...


Day 8 (back at home): More blue black patches on hand from pipe insertion... Note the dot in e area between index and third finger... That's the point of insertion...


Day 9 (back at home): Close Up on darkening blue black patch on hand from pipe insertion...