Three Colors Blue Analysis

Three Colors Blue - A Quick Summary

Three Colors Blue is a 1993 drama directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski. This movie, the first in a series of three, follows Julie, the wife of a prolific composer, struggling to find stable ground after the loss of her husband and daughter. Kieślowski crafts a journey of discovery coated in sorrow, as Julie is haunted by the past unwilling to let her move on.

What Scene am I Analyzing?

For this analysis, I am going to look at this scene when Julie returns home for the first time after her tragic loss.

Three Colors Blue - Scene Analysis

In the film Three Colors: Blue, (1993, dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski) viewers experience a journey, following Julie in one of the lowest moments of her life, having just lost both her husband Patrice and her daughter. We see her struggle to overcome and attempt to start a new life entirely, leaving behind both Patrice and the music they created together. Though Julie tries to move on, flashes of the music she helped write torment her everywhere she goes, with flashes of blue following suit. This use of lighting and meta-diegetic sound is often a character of itself, with waves of blue hitting Julie, and all she can do is try to drown it out. In one of the first scenes when Julie comes back home, viewers see how snippets of Julie and Patrice’s work appear in her life, and all she can do is try to shut it out and move on. By utilizing these techniques of lighting and meta-diegetic sound, Kieslowski is able to effectively show how Julie’s past continues to haunt her and emphasize emotion without needing a single line of dialogue.

Meta-Diegetic Sound

Meta-Diegetic sound is sound that is usually only heard by one person, usually imagined or hallucinated. This type of sound is an extremely subjective experience, with Three Colors Blue connecting the Meta-Diegetic sound to a painful and tramatizing expeience for Julie.

In this scene, we follow Julie almost exclusively, grounding the audience via her actions and emotions portrayed as she explores the home she used to know. Kieslowski utilizes meta-diegetic sound to further personify these emotions, showing how the music that Julie and Patrice once wrote together now haunts and torments her, even as she tries to move on. This first is shown in shots 5 to 6, with Julie going through the last few possessions left in her house, only to walk downstairs and see one of the last pieces Julie and Patrice wrote, the stanza playing in her head. The music obtrudes, acting as a voice in the back of her head, with Julie constantly needing to shut it out. In this shot, Julie is only able to break free through the sounds of distant crying, allowing her a momentary distraction that gets her mind away from the melancholy melody. This is further emphasized in shots 25 to 32, where Julie stands still, reading the sheet music left on the piano, the score playing in her mind, and even continuing past the last note. The score represents her past, personified, constantly being the thorn in her side, and never leaving her mind. Julie is only able to leave by having the piano lid slam shut, an attempt to close out this part of her life, an attempt proven to be unsuccessful later in the film. Through these moments of meta-diegetic sound, the audience sees the way Julie’s past comes to haunt her, and how the music she once wrote, now ties her down and refuses to let her move on.

Shots 5-6

Shots 25-33

One of the biggest aspects of this film is the use of lighting, especially blue. Often in these intimate moments, or scenes with the meta-diegetic score, it is accompanied by blue light. This is no different from shot 10, a long shot where Julie sits down and stares into the blue crystals, she pulled down from the lamp hanging in the blue room. The light reflected on Julie’s face shows her continued struggle with loss and sadness, even though she tries to stay strong and hide her emotions. This holds true as well for shot 33, where Julie stands in front of her piano, letting the lid slam shut to cut out the meta-diegetic music playing in her head. Shot 33 gives the audience a perfect reaction, showing Julie giving a deep inhale as the blue from her pool reflects on her face. The light is in many ways Julie’s sadness personified, constantly showing the hardships she encounters, while also revealing what Julie constantly tries to repress. This blue light gives the audience an inside into the pain Julie feels, the past that continues to haunt her, and the life she wishes to leave behind.

Through each of these techniques utilized by director Krzysztof Kieslowski, audience members can get an inside look at the emotions and past that Julie desperately tries to hide from both the world and herself. She struggles to move on, with the work she once loved, now tormenting, and haunting her at her most vulnerable. These characteristics are perfectly personified using both meta-diegetic sound and unique lighting, allowing for these intimate moments with Julie to feel even more impactful. Kieslowski was able to create a film that utilizes the score, not only to complement the visuals, but to go deeper, and make music that can single-handily develop a character and drive the story forward.

Shot 10

Shot 33

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