Trois couleurs: Bleu (1993)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Krzysztof Kieslowski

Writers:

Krzysztof Kieslowski (scenario) and
Krzysztof Piesiewicz (scenario) ...
(more)

Release Date:

8 September 1993 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

First of a trilogy of films dealing with contemporary French society concerns how the wife of a composer deals with the death of her husband and child.

Plot Keywords:

Blue | Composer | Liberty | Car Accident | Suicide

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 13 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Juliette Binoche	...	Julie Vignon (de Courcy)
Benoît Régent	...	Olivier (as Benoit Regent)
Florence Pernel	...	Sandrine
Charlotte Véry	...	Lucille (as Charlotte Very)
Hélène Vincent	...	La journaliste (as Helene Vincent)
Philippe Volter	...	L'agent immobilier
Claude Duneton	...	Le médecin
Hugues Quester	...	Patrice
Emmanuelle Riva	...	La mère
Florence Vignon	...	La copiste
Daniel Martin	...	Le voisin du dessous
Jacek Ostaszewski	...	Le flutiste
Catherine Therouenne	...	La voisine
Yann Trégouët	...	Antoine (as Yann Tregouet)
Alain Ollivier	...	L'avocat
Isabelle Sadoyan	...	La servante
Pierre Forget	...	Le Jardinier
Philippe Manesse
Arno Chevrier
Idit Cebula
Stanislas Nordey
Jacques Disses
Michel Lisowski
Yves Penay
Philippe Morier-Genoud
Julie Delpy	...	Dominique
Zbigniew Zamachowski	...	Karol Karol (avec la participation de)
Alain Decaux
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Julie Gayet	...	(uncredited)
Piotr Jaxa	...	Photographer at funeral (uncredited)

Directed by
Krzysztof Kieslowski

Writing credits
Krzysztof Kieslowski		(scenario) and
Krzysztof Piesiewicz		(scenario)
Agnieszka Holland		(scenario collaborator) and
Edward Zebrowski		(scenario collaborator) and
Slawomir Idziak		(scenario collaborator)

Produced by
Marin Karmitz	....	producer

Original Music by
Zbigniew Preisner

Cinematography by
Slawomir Idziak

Film Editing by
Jacques Witta

Casting by
Margot Capelier

Production Design by
Claude Lenoir

Set Decoration by
Lionel Acat
Christian Aubenque
Jean-Pierre Delettre
Julien Poitou-Weber
Marie-Claire Quin

Makeup Department
Jean-Pierre Caminade	....	hair stylist
Jean-Pierre Caminade	....	makeup artist
Valérie Tranier	....	hair stylist
Valérie Tranier	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Yvon Crenn	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
François Azria	....	assistant director
Julie Bertucelli	....	assistant director
Emmanuela Demarchi	....	assistant director
Emmanuel Finkiel	....	assistant director
Stéphane Libiot	....	assistant director

Art Department
Michel Charvaz	....	props

Sound Department
Vincent Arnardi	....	sound effects
Claire Bez	....	sound editor
Pascal Colomb	....	sound recordist
William Flageollet	....	sound mixer
Jean-Claude Laureux	....	sound
Jean-Pierre Lelong	....	foley artist
Bertrand Lenclos	....	sound editor
Brigitte Taillandier	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Ernst Brunner	....	lighting technician
Muriel Coulin	....	assistant camera
Alain Dondin	....	lighting technician
Alain Dreze	....	grip
Alain Dubouloz	....	electrician
Piotr Jaxa	....	second camera operator
Piotr Jaxa	....	still photographer
Henryk Jedynak	....	assistant camera
Hans Meier	....	lighting technician
Albert Vasseur	....	grip

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Naima Lagrange	....	costumes
Virginie Viard	....	costumes

Editorial Department
Aïlo Auguste-Judith	....	assistant editor (as Ailo Auguste)
Catherine Cormon	....	assistant editor
Michele D'Attoma	....	assistant editor
Urszula Lesiak	....	assistant editor
Rob Sciarratta	....	video color timer (uncredited)

Music Department
Chór Filharmonii Slaskiej	....	musician (as Les Choeurs Philharmonique de SILESIE)
Leszek Kaminski	....	assistant music recordist
Halina Laciak	....	executive music producer
Konrad Mastylo	....	musician: piano
Wojciech Michniewski	....	conductor
Jacek Ostaszewski	....	musician: flute
Rafal Paczkowski	....	music recording engineer
Elzbieta Towarnicka	....	musician: soprano
Sinfonia Varsovia	....	musician
Jan Wojtacha	....	chorus master

Other crew
Olivier Bulteau	....	administrator
Aline Corneille	....	administrator
Geneviève Dufour	....	script supervisor (as Genevieve Dufour)
Roman Gren	....	acting coach
Anne Guillemard	....	administrator
Caroline Lassa	....	administrator
Marcin Latallo	....	dialog translator
Stan Latek	....	assistant to director
Dominique Lefèvre	....	administrator
Laurette Monconduit	....	public relations assistant
Eva Simonet	....	public relations
Jean Talvat	....	administrator
Nicolas Tempier	....	administrator
Gisèle Vuillaume	....	administrator

Thanks
Andrew Litton	....	special thanks
Alexis Weissenberg	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Canal+ (participation)
• Conseil de l'Europe (financial support)
• CAB Productions
• CED Productions
• Eurimages
• France 3 Cinéma
• MK2 Productions
• Zespol Filmowy "Tor"

Distributors

• MK2 Diffusion (1993) (France) (theatrical)
• MK2 Éditions (2002) (France) (DVD)
• Artificial Eye (1993) (UK) (theatrical)
• Film Arte (1994) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Finnkino (1994) (Finland) (theatrical)
• JMM Invest (1993) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Miramax Films (1993) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Asociace Ceských Filmových Klubu (ACFK) (Czech Republic)
• Finnkino (2004) (Finland) (DVD)
• Miramax Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Noble Entertainment (2008) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (Argentina) (video)
• Versátil Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Sinfonia Varsovia  orchestra
• Chór Filharmonii Slaskiej  chorus (as Les Choeurs Philharmonique de Silesie)
• Studio Polskiego Radia SZ/S4  music recording studio (as Studio S4 - Varsovie)
• Orchestre de la Suisse Romande  special thanks
• Mairie de Paris  thanks (as La Mairie de Paris)
• Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (R.A.T.P.)  thanks
• Alfa Romeo  thanks
• Ercidan  titles and opticals
• Hewlett Packard  thanks
• Renoma  thanks
• Virgin France  soundtrack

Also Known As:

Three Colors: Blue (Canada: English title) (USA)
Three Colours: Blue (Canada: English title) (UK)
Bleu (France) (short title)
Blue
Trzy kolory: Niebieski (Poland)

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexuality.

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

France | Poland | Switzerland

Language:

French | Romanian | Polish

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Canada:14 (New Brunswick/Nova Scotia/Prince Edward Island) (DVD rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:AL | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Cité du Midi, Paris 18, Paris, France

Company:

Canal+

Trivia:

During one swimming scene in the blue pool, children in red and white bathing suits run out and jump in the water -- another subtle reference to the trilogy (blue, white, and red).

Goofs:

Factual errors: Julie mentions 'altos' as she describes the entrances of various instruments. The same word appears in the English subtitles as she speaks. The sound we hear, though, is not a group of female singers but a body of stringed instruments. In French the word 'alto' refers to a viola; the subtitle is a mistranslation.

Quotes:

Julie Vignon: Why are you crying?
La servante: Because you're not.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Pervert's Guide to Cinema (2006)

'Blue,' 'White' and 'Red' represent the apotheosis of European art cinema just at the moment when its very existence seemed most uncertain…

"Three Colors Blue" is the first part of Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors trilogy… "Blue" is set in France, "White" in Poland and "Red" in Switzerland, but all production was based in France… Not only are the colors of the trilogy those of the French national flag; the original intention was meditation on the ideals of the French Revolution: freedom, equality and fraternity… This suggests a political dimension to the work… But though like most Polish filmmakers Kieslowski had his difficulties with the Polish Communist system, its collapse by the early 1990s meant that he was not only free to work where he pleased, but liberated from the necessity for his films to engage directly in the political process…

In "Three Colors Blue" Juliette Binoche plays a woman whose husband and daughter are killed in a car crash… Overcome by melancholy, she progressively withdraws from life, depriving herself of possessions and refusing relationships, a state of mind conveyed in part by the director's subtle use of color blue… But eventually she is able to accept the attentions of a lover and even to offer friendship to another woman who is pregnant with her husband's child… Finally, she completes the piece of music which her husband has been commissioned to write…

The result is a work that has less in common with the Polish 'Cinema of moral concern' of the late 1970s than with the tradition of the mainstream European art cinema, in its concerns with alienation and the loss of feeling, countered by the transcendent power of love…