Humanism

“Three Colors: Blue” is a personal story, but it’s also possible to extrapolate it to a global, humanitarian story. Kieslowski conceived his trilogy as an homage to his new home country of France, but told through the prism of a reunited Europe. The freedom highlighted in the movie isn’t particular to Julie, it was felt across Eastern Europe at that time. Kieslowski sees every historical movement through a dual lens: there’s the beauty of freedom, but also the cold, indifference of it.

This segment of the film focuses on both sides of the coin. It begins with Julie living exactly as she wishes. She sits down at her favorite cafe and orders her usual, which turns out to be an affogato. This really is a woman after my own heart. She has a ritual to it, she pours half the espresso into the gelato, then spoons up from the bottom. I approve of this method, it protects the integrity of the ice cream instead of fully drowning it and turning it all into a mess.

After her first spoonful, she hears a pan flute from outside and looks outside the cafe window to see a man playing. She is entranced by the music, and probably always is. Windows play a crucial role in the film. They offer a discrete way for Julie to glimpse the world without being fully seen herself. There’s a protection inherent in them, and she takes comfort in glimpsing the world through a frame.

She next takes to another of her new routines, swimming alone in a massive indoor pool bathed in blue light. There’s a womb like quality to her solitary bliss as she completes laps without human interference or interruption.

But an interruption comes soon enough as she arrives home. She hears a man being attacked and looks out the window to see him being beaten by three other men. Here, Julie’s voyeurism isn’t disconnected and personal, it’s entered the social realm. How can she maintain her freedom while also being true to her humanitarian instincts? The attacked man sees an opening and runs away from this attackers, entering Julie’s apartment building. He frantically bangs on doors for help. He bangs on Julie’s door and she is frozen in fear. Then we hear some sounds that are hard to interpret. Do the attackers catch up and drag him away? Unlikely, because we don’t hear him cry out. But how could he escape?

Julie enters the hallway to find out and calls out if anyone is there. There is no answer, but we then see an open window banging in the wind. Perhaps he escaped through it. At that moment, Julie’s door slams shut, she is locked out. After failing to re-enter, she goes down a flight of stairs, sitting on the stairs. She sees a blonde woman reach the floor and lightly tap on the door of the apartment to the left, then enter her own apartment to the right. A half-dressed older man quietly leaves the apartment to the left and enters the woman’s apartment—some kind of assignation is in play. A few seconds later, we see the blonde woman briefly look out her apartment door, notice Julie in the doorway, then close the door behind her.

Unlike other apartment doors in the building, this woman’s apartment has doors with large circles on top of them. Parts of this movie almost have a video game like feel, the visual artifacts are so obvious.

Julie begins to sleep on the stairway. As she does, we begin to see some light blue shimmers on her and we can hear, very faintly, echoes of the symphony in her slumber. She may be living her idealized, free life, but she cannot escape that which connects her to the world.