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