Read Time:2 Minute, 7 Second
Rated
R
100 minutes
French with English subtitles
I loved
Juliette Binoche in Chocolat. It’s a movie that makes me feel all warm and melty
every time I watch it—and Binoche did an excellent job playing the fiery,
chocolate-bearing heroine. That could explain why I didn’t hesitate to pick up a copy of
Blue after I saw her face on the DVD case—even though it’s a foreign film,
complete with subtitles. While I was watching it, I actually found it to be somewhat
similar to Chocolat, though Blue was much more obscure and a lot less
inspiring.
In both films, Binoche plays a woman on the run. In
Chocolat, she’s Vianne, a single mother who moves from town to town whenever the
wind blows. In Blue, she’s Julie, a woman who totally abandons her old life when
her husband, a famous composer, and their daughter are killed in a car accident. Like
Vianne, whose nomadic lifestyle keeps her from becoming too attached to anyone (except
for her traveling companion—her young daughter), Julie leaves everything behind
(including her huge, beautiful home and her aging mother, who’s confined in a nursing
home) in an attempt to free herself of the pain of love and loss.
Though
she tries to withdraw, Julie soon learns that she’ll never be able to escape. No matter
how much she tries to close the door to her new apartment and shut out the rest of the
world, she finds herself involved in the lives of new acquaintances—and haunted by the
symphony that her husband left unfinished.
Blue is the first film
in a trilogy about France—based on the country’s national motto: Liberty, Equality, and
Fraternity. It’s an artistic film, carefully painted in dark colors, but it’s often
difficult to follow—not because of the subtitles but just because of the story’s
obscurity. It’s not a “Wow!” kind of movie. It’s more of a “Hmmm…” kind of
movie.
Despite the similarities between the two movies, Blue is
darker and much more bleak than Chocolat. And while Julie may find her closure at
the end of the film, I didn’t. It left a few too many unanswered questions—and the
answers that it did provide just didn’t seem to make sense. Chocolat’s Vianne was
a character with whom I could relate—Julie wasn’t. And that could explain why
Chocolat is a movie that I can watch repeatedly—but Blue isn’t.
Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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