Studio 1B: Three Colours: Blue

Three Colours: Blue.

The first part of a trilogy- Blue, White and Red, the names are inspired by the French flag and the ideas it represents; Blue – Liberty, White – Equality and Red – Friendship.

Blue questions liberty and the search for freedom from grief

Julie (wife) became a recluse as a way of dealing with grief, a form of therapy. Complete Isolation from the world. Had no responsibilities left in her life, her husband and child had died, the only person left was her mother, however she lives a care home and suffers from Alzheimer’s.

Her condition allows Julie the freedom which she desperately seeks because her mother cannot recognize Julie as her daughter, their relationship has been lost and has died like her husband and child, there was no one left to care for.

Combination of strong and subtle uses of symbolism, one of the symptoms of pathological grief is to have no desire. Imagery, music, power to add emotion

The film shows her journey, searching for liberty she had no desire for friends, her family home, material possessions or love

Coffee and ice cream is a key moment, it is one of the few moments we see her eat, and she poured the coffee into the ice cream allowing herself something nice. The first moment she was interested in having a pleasurable experience, up until that moment she had deprived herself anything nice or rewarding.

There are a lack of reactions throughout the film, often internalised, whenever something bad happened it goes to a close up of her face, and search for emotion but her facial expressions do not give anything away, there is a lack of emotional remorse, for example when she wakes up from the hospital and finds out her husband and child have died, is there no crying, no shouting, she just closes her eyes.

Julies way of dealing with the loss of her husband and child can be perceived as a reasonable reaction for dealing with grief. As an introvert, she isolates herself, does not talk about what happened, sells her family home and furniture, moves to a small flat in Paris and becomes a recluse.  She changes back to her maiden name, detaching herself from her husband’s name.

Shows the importance of the narrative, created by the continuous use of the colour blue, the lollypop, the chandelier, the swimming pool.

In the scene where Lucile comes and speaks to Juile at the swimming pool and she speaks she was not crying, the whole pool turns blue as a group of child come running wearing red arm bands, there is a sudden shock of red and white into the blue sea. References to the other elements of the French flag, sub narrative, the film becomes more like a painting.

  

The film challenges the viewer to consider and reflect upon how they might react in the main characters (Julie) situation, the filming was about working grief out in a philiposical way as opposed to acting it out in a more dramatic way of shouting, crying and feeling angry with the world. The film engages with the viewer on a didactic level.

There misleading moments in the film when the scene fades to black, making the viewer question if it is coming to an end. The gaps create a disconnection from the character and the viewer.

http://www.openculture.com/2015/03/andrei-tarkovskys-message-to-young-people.html

http://www.mediacircus.net/blue.html

Death: The Final Stage of growth, E. Kubler- Rose, 1975