Olivier

I consider “Three Colors: Blue” to be a great film, and it’s a great film that includes a love story. But I don’t consider it to be a great love story. The problem is Olivier; He’s boring. There’s nothing exceptional about him. He’s portrayed by an average looking guy. The three things we know about him are that he’s a musician, he loves Julie, and he’s very determined to get what he wants.

But he has nothing interesting to say, not even why he loves her. It’s clear that he’s also a far less accomplished musician than Julie, not up to the task of finishing the symphony on his own. And as for his determination, that’s the cheapest currency available in any romantic story, one that leaves the impression that any guy can win the heart of any woman if he just stays at it long enough. It can be problematic if taken to extremes, and Olivier does seek Julie out after she makes it clear, more than once, that she wants to be left alone.

These probably read like damning critiques of the film, but they’re not, because the love story is relatively unimportant to the story arc. This is Julie’s journey, not Oliver’s, so she can choose who she becomes attached to or not. Every other connection and gesture she makes in the film is ultimately more important than anything she does with Olivier.

As the scene begins, Julie is still in the library, fighting off tears, where she hears someone enter the house and be offered something to drink. He’s told “sit down, this might take some time.” Then we see Olivier coming up the stairs at Julie’s home, blue folder in hand with all the material from Patrice’s office. He’s clearly there to fetch any additional pieces of the symphony he can find, but when he notices Julie he stops, stares, then leaves. This is all very odd, because he does not check back with whoever he was speaking to downstairs. And when he gets to the courtyard, he hears gunshots in the distance, unexplained. It all leaves the audience with a distrusting vibe towards Olivier right from the start. But Julie does not pursue him as he leaves either, which gives off a sense that he’s also unimportant.

The film abruptly cuts to Julie talking to a financial advisor, giving orders of what’s to be done with Patrice’s estate, with no one to be told what she’s done. She very specifically takes care of everyone, including her mother in a nursing home (we later learn she’s suffering with Alzheimer’s) and the staff of the estate. She wants to keep for herself only her own money, which feels like a slap at her deceased husband—she wants nothing to do with his money or the house they shared, which is to be sold, along with all of their possessions, as soon as possible. It appears that the remaining funds are to be left in a Swiss bank account, no further explanation provided.

We then cut to Olivier getting into his car, a red station wagon, which seems like a strange vehicle for a single man to own. He starts to look through the blue folder and notices the pictures of Patrice with his mistress. The scene cuts back to Julie at the piano, now going over the fragment of score she’d found before. We can hear the notes as she runs her finger across the musical notations. It seems like something familiar and personal to her. She then slowly pushes the lid stand of the piano until it all comes crashing down, nearly crushing her fingers.

The scene ends with more blue light shimmering on Julie’s face. She has a look of cold determination, as if she’s being driven by anger as much as grief.