Three Colors: Blue (1993)
Not as blue as you think.
Presentation:
The first movie of the Three Colors Trilogy, Blue encapsulates the melancholy of a widow losing her composer husband and daughter in a car accident. The color is introduced into the grade but the majority of the symbolism takes place with the music. The film implements a very striking use of music and fade outs to characterize the widow’s mentality throughout the film. It may seem gimmicky at first, but does end up having significant purpose toward the end. However, the overall tone of the film is very somber and frankly very slow and artsy, which will make it difficult to digest for the majority of audiences.
Analysis:
When her husband dies, the widow attempts to take her life but fails. Instead, she gives up, tries selling the home and every worldly possession and run away from everything and everyone she knew. She throws away her husbands last unfinished concerto, but it is preserved through another copy. The turning point in her grief I believe is meeting her husband's mistress, whom is pregnant. Of all the questions she wants to confront her with, she simply wants to know if he loved her, which he did. Then there is also an important friendship with her sex worker neighbor. She notable says that by answering the call and coming to comfort her in her time of need, the widow saved her. She ultimately is able to move on, assist in completing the concerto and go back to the home and even make love with her husbands assistant. It's at this time the music changes to be a bit more triumphant. The concerto symbolizes the grief of this woman. Like the copymaker states, the music is too beautiful to destroy just like the life of the widow. Sometimes just living on is the most heroic thing we can do.
Conclusion:
This film is quite an artsy and slow tragedy. But despite the cold tone, it actually has an extraordinary hopefulness of persevering and dealing with grief. It’s very neutral storytelling: there’s no dramatization or agenda pushing, just simple storytelling of a widow struggling to live her life. I don’t think the majority of audiences will find such a story particularly captivating especially when there are films that do this style of film better like Poetry, but if you manage to push through you may resonate with it’s beauty.
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