Circles

As mentioned in the first essay, Kieslowski uses a motif of circles to indicate destiny in this film. It’s a metaphor he returned to frequently in his films, as Thomas Hibbs noted in this 2005 essay about him:

Kieslowski specializes in the depiction of characters suffering a sort of dislocation, a loss of orientation, or a deprivation of identity. In The Decalogue — a series of 10 one-hour films produced for Polish TV, each based on one of the Commandments — he sought to describe everyday life, a world populated by people who do not “know why they are living,” who suddenly realize that “they’re going round and round in circles — not achieving what they want.” Yet this realization often allows Kieslowski’s characters to reflect on the purpose of their lives and consider alternative paths.

In Kieslowski stories, characters enter these circles and are forced to consider why they are wrapped up in them. It’s a common experience, even if you are generally content with your overall life, to become trapped in inescapable patterns for unknown reasons. Kieslowski suggests in some of his films that recognizing the circles is an opportunity for change and growth.

But interestingly, he seems to take the opposite position in “Three Colors: Blue.” In this film, circles are a symbol of inescapable fate, the elements that cannot be defeated by force of will.

This scene opens with yet another shot of Julie walking very fast and determined. As an aside, I find these early scenes where she’s ruthlessly taking care of business very emotionally satisfying, because this is the way I roll, especially if I’m feeling some kind of mental distress. I create a nice long to-do list and then I aggressively burn through it. Unfortunately, I don’t have the option of just randomly fucking someone as part of the list like Julie does, but I burn off my spare aggression in my own ways.

Back to Julie, she walks up a beautiful early 20th century Parisian building, notably skipping the old fashioned elevator that was clearly too slow for her. She arrives at a copier where the latest proofs of the symphony are being stored. We see the scores as a series of circles, rolled up scrolls sitting on shelves.

The woman in charge of reproductions says to Julie that she didn’t start the reproduction work, that she was waiting for Julie’s direction. Julie responds “that was smart.” We’ll find out later that the employee was lying.

They look at the latest version of the symphony. The employee says “there were some revisions,” to which Julie quickly responds “not more than usual.” She seems annoyed at the suggestion her work (clearly her work) would need significant editorial assistance. Given that Olivier did not seem to know where the latest proofs are, we have to assume that it was Patrice making the changes—and therefore we can also assume that this is the way they worked. Julie basically was the creative force in the project, Patrice oversaw it and smoothed out rounds of revisions.

The employee points out a section she particularly liked—a chorus—and we hear it on the soundtrack. Julie quickly rolls up the score and walks off with it. The music continues until Julie gets to a garbage truck outside the building, where she tosses in the score and it is immediately crushed. The score garbles out as it is destroyed.

We next see Julie at home, her handbag spilled out on a table. She comes across a lollipop with a blue wrapper. As she unraps it and sees the candy underneath, she expresses a pang of pain, a memory of her lost daughter. Julie then devours the candy, much like a priest eating the host at communion, joylessly, driven by necessity.

When she’s done, Julie immediately reaches for her address book and calls Olivier. She asks him, bluntly, if he loves her. He responds yes. She asks since when, he says since he started working with Patrice. Next, tells him that he can come over if he likes. He asks if it can be now, and she says yes, then hangs up.

In a remarkably short amount of screen time, a great deal of story and visual information is shared with moviegoers. We learn the truth of Julie’s musical collaboration, see how angry she was at Patrice, get a reminder of her continuing grief over her daughter, then see her take decisive action to initiate sex with Olivier.

At this point, we have no idea why she wants to do so, but soon find out.