Turning

We now reach the turning point of “Blue,” a collection of four scenes where Julie’s journey toward individualism and freedom meets various forms of resistance. It begins with her swimming alone in a stunning blue pool. Julie is again in that womb-like state, free in her exercise and meditation.

But the symphony keeps haunting her. Here, Julie hears a segment with strings and trumpets. It doesn’t induce a blackout, but it does lead her to bury her head in the water, seemingly trying to shut the sound out.

We next see Julie walking on the street, where she find the street musician sleeping. She asks him if he’s feeling well and if he’s ok. She places the case with his recorder on his head so he’s not laying on the cement. He smiles, then says “you gotta always hold on to something.” This startles her and she asks what he said. He’s clearly just articulated the opposite of her current worldview.

The film cuts to Julie in her apartment, alone again in peace, drinking some tea, lighting a cigarette (honestly, Juliette Binoche’s smoking is the one thing about her that bothers me) but she’s interrupted once more by her doorbell. This time, it is Lucille at the door, the sex worker who lives on the floor below her, with a bouquet of flowers to thank her for allowing to stay in the building (apparently they needed a unanimous petition to expel her … it would feel very weird to keeping living in a place where all but one person wants you out, but never mind that, this isn’t a movie for little details like that.)

Lucille is played by Charlotte Very, an actress who at that time had just starred in the the Eric Rohmer film “A Tale of Winter.” Rohmer was a charming, but very Catholic director who made dozens of films, often in lightly connected series, sort of like Kieslowski. Rohmer’s movies were very talkative, and “A Tale of Winter” was an odd little movie about a woman named Felicie who has a whirlwind romance over the holiday with an American, but somehow gives him the wrong address at their parting. She goes on to bear his chlld and remains deeply attached to him. She pursues other relationships, strings two men along for much of this film, but has a deep faith that she will once again be reunited with her lost love. And very late in the film, a miracle occurs, they meet again on a Paris bus.

I bring this up because Kieslowski likes to play off the feelings moviegoers have to actors an actresses based on previous performances. Juliette Binoche gave off a tremendous sense of warmth from her earlier films, which is an interesting contrast to this role. Charlotte Very was known to audiences for playing a character with a deep seated faith and sense of destiny, so there’s a similar contrast here with her playing a highly hedonistic sex worker.

She does a great deal of talking in this scene, very Rohmer like, noting that she could never stand to sleep alone like Julie does, wonders how she could be single because “you’re not the type of woman a man cheats on or abandons” and keeps going on about the blue chandelier, which we know is a very triggering item for Julie. Lucille’s self centeredness is important here, because it allows her to get a lot out and leave Julie to not self reveal, so in a way she’s fine with it all, her psyche is undisturbed.

The scene ends with Lucille saying “poor guy,” in reference to the musician, then noting that he was asleep on the street when she returned home and has now left his recorder on the street, but is gone now.

The film picks up with Julie in her favorite cafe, but this time not with an affogato, she’s just ordered a coffee. She’s also created her own version of the drinking bird toy by putting a spoon inside of a Perrier bottle, watching it swing back and forth. She’s started by the sudden appearance of Olivier, who sits down and orders a coffee. He explains how he found her, some three part connection, with someone seeing her by accident—how they all know what Julie looks like is another of those details Kieslowski doesn’t want us to dwell on. She asks if he’s been spying on her. He replies, no, I’ve missed you. Which, I don’t know, isn’t really an excuse for stalking, but kind of works in context. Who wouldn’t miss her?

He asks if she was running away from him and Juliette Binoche gives this wonderfully slow nod of the head, as if to say, there’s so much more I ran away from but I have no desire to talk to you or anyone else about it. She then spots a very expensive looking car pull up outside and out pops the street musician. A very attractive, apparently wealthy woman gets out from the driver’s seat and gives him a kiss on the cheek … a very strange, surprising turn that makes it seem that this man is doing much better in life than everyone else has assumed so far.

The musician then begins playing … and it’s a segment from the symphony. Julie asks Olivier to listen and he recognizes it as well. Then Olivier does something that makes me like him. He says that he’s now seen Julie, maybe that’s enough for now, and he leaves. This feels right to me. He’s giving her space to figure out if she really wants to permanent lose him.

Julie is overwhelmed in the moment and tries to recenter by dipping a sugar cube in the coffee, watching it fill up and turn dark. I watched an interview with Kieslowski where he explained that he determined the audience would only accept this scene if it took five seconds for the sugar cube to fill with coffee, so the crew experimented with several brands of cubes before finding the right one.

Next, we see Julie going out to the musician, curious how he could know this music. He tells her that makes up all kinds of different music. Kieslowski is very attracted to moments where people have similar ideas and thoughts that seemingly come from another place, like divine inspiration.

In these collection of scenes, Julie discovers that as successful as she has been separating herself from life, she cannot escape from herself. She will continue to hear the musician inspiration that drives her. She will attract people who are affected by her innate kindness, and she will continue to be pursued by those who love her, because she’s a very lovable human being.

As long as Julie exists, she will continue to have ties that bind.