Blue (1993)

 Spoilers

'Blue' is the first film in director Krzysztof Kieślowski's "Three Colors Trilogy", with each film taking its title from one of the colors of the French flag, and each film it's theme from one of the words in the French moto, "Liberty, Egality, Fraternity".  'Blue' is the "Liberty film", though not in the words political sense.

Juliette Binoche plays Julie, the wife of a famed composer who is killed in a car crash along with their five year old daughter. Julie is so severely injured that she is stuck in the hospital and unable to go to their funneral, which is almost a state affair. Once finally able to walk she creates a distraction at night so that she can break into the pharmacy with the intent to steal pills and kill herself. With pills in her mouth she finds she is unable to swallow and aborts the attempt. 

Upon her relase she puts her husband's family estate on the market, sells the fancy city apartment, prepars a trust fund for her alzhimers stricken mother, and moves into a small apartment with the intent to spend the rest of her life cut off as much as possible from human contact. But again she finds despite her sincer efforts she can't quite do this.

Her husband's friend and assistant who has long nursed a crush on her insists on tracking her down to make sure she is okay, she is drawn to the plight of a neighborhood street musican, and finds that she can't keep from visiting the mother who no longer recognizes her. Her attempt to avoid involvement by refusing to sign a petition to kick a prostitute out of her building, causes the troubled young woman to adopt her as a champion.

She see's a TV news piece on her husband containing pictures of him with a woman she doesn't recognize, she is able to learn that he was having an affair and proceds to track the woman down. When she goes to confront her she finds the woman late in pregnancy with her husband's child, and something again breaks inside her. 

However her response now is not to try and break further away, but to engage again with the world. It is beautiful, I cried. Despite the worst that life could throw at her Julie works through her grief and again finds her "liberty". 

The Polish born Kieślowski first made a name for himself in late communist televison. 'Dekalog' is what we would now call a limited series and takes a similar approach to 'Three Colors'; set in a sprawling state housing project each episode is a story inspired by one of the ten commandments. One episode was expanded into a movie titled 'A Short Film about Killing' and it is devastating, though not in the way you might expect. 

That film was all I had seen of the writer/directors work before 'Blue' and I simply need to see more. Kieślowski, who died in his mid 50's,

 had a sense of and empathy for the human condtion that is simple extraordinary. 'Blue' is a truly beautiful film. ****