Tocmai am terminat de vazut ultimul film al lui Kieslowski, Trois Couleurs: Rouge. Regizorul polonez mi-a atras atentia acum cativa ani, cand am dat peste Dekalogul sau, care mi s-a parut dramatic si inspirat si chiar a persistat in a mea memorie ceva vreme. Scenele reusesc sa te problematizeze si sa te faca sa iti pui intrebari.

Referitor la Rouge, nu stiu cat am inteles eu din el (avand in vedere ca l-am vazut in franceza, fara subtitrare – notabil fiind faptul ca franceza mea e destul de slabuta, dupa mult timp de nepractica), dar ce mi-a placut foarte mult la film si ceea ce am inteles eu din el si fara sa fie nevoie ca sa inteleg precis fiecare replica, a fost atmosfera. O atmosfera de film bun . Mi-a placut extrem de mult jocul actoricesc al celor doi, Irene Jacob si Jean-Louis Trintignant. M-a pus pe gandul gradul de umanitate pe care il prezinta filmul si m-am gandit la faptul ca Kieslowski (dupa cum am citit undeva) ii iubea foarte mult pe oameni, iar lucrul acesta transpare din fiecare por al filmului. Le iubea expresiile si manifestarile si nu facea altceva decat sa le prezinte in pura forma. Poate si de-asta m-a atras pe mine modul in care regizeaza in prima instanta. In orice caz, Dekalogul is a must-see! Trebuie sa caut la Institut si restul filmelor de el. Vad ca mai au si Bleu si Blanc, si La double vie de Veronique si Le Decalogue. Dragut. Trebuie sa aprofundez.

Ascult Orphee et Eurydice in varianta Orchestrei Lamoureux (ce-mi place cum suna… Lamoureux… dreamy). Mi-am mai tras acum si un Stravinsky de pe classical.com, dar nu am apucat sa ascult decat eminamente foarte putin… Cand termin, intr-un sfarsit, cu Orfeu si cu a lui Euridice, trec la Stravinsky. Ah, si ce-mi place foarte mult la opera asta e faptul ca se termina frumos … In mitologie sfarsitul e foarte sumbru, Orfeu o pierde pe Euridice si nimeni nu vrea sa il mai ajute inca o data. Too sad for my taste, prefer opera in care isi introduce codita Amor si totul se termina bine si frumos.

Imi place foarte mult Institutul Francez, pentru ca gasesti acolo tot ce vrei. In curand va trebui, insa, sa imi fac abonament si la British Council, ca sa ma apuc sa mai citesc in engleza si sa imi pot da Cambridge-ul. Deja engleza mea s-a deformat si a devenit plana si banala. Nu sunt in stare sa fac un comentariu pertinent, neologic, ci folosesc doar cuvinte furculition si cred ca pot scapa cu asta. Ney, this cannot be of this sort any longer. I shall fight this.

Imi plac foarte mult versurile rimate din libretto-ul de la Orfeu si Euridice. Dar, gata, nu voi mai aduce vorba despre asta, deja devine superfluu

In alta ordine de idei, m-am reapucat de Maestrul si Margareta si sunt foarte prinsa de actiune. (Initial citisem doar primul volum, adica jumatate, acum vreau sa revin si sa citesc tot).

E 12, peste o ora plec la scoala, cred ca e cazul sa fac ceva mai constructiv (pe fundal de Gluck, desigur). ((of, si am spus ca nu mai pomenesc de el)). Merg sa imi iau niste ceai (de fragi si capsuni, very yummy) si sa fac ceva extrem de constructiv si de important.

Bineinteles ca nu ma pot abtine sa pun un clip din noua versiune pe care o ascult. And here it goes:

Orphée (Léopold Simoneau) takes his Eurydice (Suzanne Danco) back from Hades and is not allowed to turn around and look at her. During this scene from Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice. Eurydices mood changes from delight about her new life to doubt about Orphée’s love for her. This is the French version of Gluck’s opera (with a tenor lead rather than a castrato). Hans Rosbaud conducts the Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux in a performance from 1956.

Juliette Binoche in "Blue"

Blue is the first installment of Kieślowski’s Three Colors, where the ideals of the French tricolours are explored in a personal context, and when I first saw it as a teenager, I focused on the conceptual framework and not much else. The picture’s immaculate construction suits it for that sort of analysis – the color motif is very easy to pick out and just as easy to dissect. It was a nice way to approach film for the first time, but it was limiting, reducing it to an academic exercise.

For that reason, Blue seemed more like a picture to admire than something I’d ever relate to. Watching it now, it carries much more heft.

The film centers around Julie (Juliette Binoche) and how she copes with grief. It’s almost enough to drive her to suicide, but when she rules that out as an option, she copes by running away. The first time I saw Blue, the logic seemed opaque and took some effort to understand, but now it seems very instinctive, not a matter of rationality but impulse.

Openly mourning feels too overwhelming, so she tries leaving behind all the things that fuel her pain – the memories that keep it in place and the marred emotional attachments that feed it. It’s even understandable when she tries destroying a commissioned work that she may have written (IMO, she probably did). It’s cauterization through withdrawal, removing all passions from her life to extinguish any raw sense of feeling.

When she tries living alone as a stranger, it doesn’t seem so odd anymore. Binoche’s performance always conveys torment that’s never far from the surface, and when reminders of Julie’s past life chip away at her protective anonymity, the moments are so agonizing, you almost hope she remains lost and invisible.

She doesn’t, not for long. Her love for music stirs her too much, and eventually her withdrawal’s snapped by several key moments that set her on the way back…

Plenty of great films have covered similar territory (Last Tango in Paris and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind come to mind), but as much as I liked those films, Blue cuts a little deeper, really understanding the collateral sacrifices made when anyone deals with pain in that manner.

Binoche said her performance was inspired by a friend who had suffered a similar loss, and she kept that a secret until the end of the production. Her performance is not only a remarkable gift to her friend, it’s a moving display of empathy that should leave anyone feeling a little less alone in their toughest moments.

Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Trois Couleurs trilogy is not only his cinematographic tour de force, but is also a collection of well-choreographed objects. The mélange of objects that star in the film build bridges of memory through color and shape and place. Because of the blur of blue, white, and red that appear throughout, this essay employs a series of circular charts derived from the cataloguing of all of the objects that appear in the films.

But first, have a look at a scene from each part:

Bleu
An Alpha Romeo crashes into a tree in the countryside. This accident immediately starts a series of actions and objects in motion. Smoke pours from the hood of the dark grey car, a dog runs across the road, a beach ball blows across the field (blue-white-red-white-yellow-white), and white papers spill into the humid air. Sorrow and desolation hang in the atmosphere, but for Julie they will not last forever.
Bialy
Karol gazes at the shape of a white portrait bust of a woman across the room. Half eaten toast remains on a white plate with a knife, next to an unfinished glass of wine. He bends to the floor and picks up the receiver of a white telephone. All he wants is to hear her voice, but she hangs up. He’ll have to do something drastic now.
Rouge
Valentine receives a phone call: an invitation to go bowling. While she tosses a red ball down the red-walled lane, a couple leaves. A broken glass of beer, a crumpled and empty cigarette pack, and the last cigarette smoldering in the chrome ashtray are the only items that remain from the couple’s night out.

Critics say there is an overwhelming number of blue, white, and red objects in all of the films. It’s true: there is an intense amount of symbolism and complexity in the placement of every coffee cup and the timing of every car that passes. But Kieslowski has not overdone it. Rather, he has carefully assembled the elements to form experiences that feel like personal memories for the audience, as if these events are happening to them and not on the screen.

With Bleu, the audience is crushed by the weight of the beginning sequence (as described above.) Sadness hovers over the main character, Julie (Juliette Binoche), for a majority of the film. Melancholy clouds her vision. The number of blue objects in the film is not the focus here, rather the magnitude of blue feelings is the more persistent element: the vastness of the blue pool, the memories associated with a blue candy wrapper, the cloudy blue light that appears whenever Julie hears music in her head, and the overwhelming power of blue reflections from a crystal chandelier. The list of items is short, but their meaning is highly important to the tale.

Objects in Bleu

Since the color blue stands out so insistently, red and white objects also have greater impact. It is also interesting to note, as the chart here demonstrates, that the number of white objects, in this part of the trilogy, far exceeds the number of blue and red objects.

To interpret the meaning here, it is important to understand the symbolism linked to each color.

Blue = Liberty or Freedom
White = Equality or Fairness
Red = Fraternity or Interconnectedness

These colors are equally represented in the French flag; Kieslowski wanted his trilogy to be symbolic of their meaning.

In applying these definitions to the context of the film, it is clear that Julie tries to separate herself from the belongings and memories of her former life. However, in the process of trying to achieve true independence from her past, she soon learns that her life cannot continue without making connections to the people around her. The message here is: complete freedom is impossible to achieve, because our connections to others and our responsibilities eventually unify us.

Dissimilar from Bleu, Bialy (“White,” in Polish) begins with a different kind of crash, one that is erratic and frustrating. The main character, Karol (played by Zbigniew Zamachowski) suffers through divorce proceedings with his French wife Dominique (Julie Delpy) after which he loses his home, his assets, and the woman he loves. After his tragic loss, he maneuvers through a series of comedic and peculiar tactics, all for the purpose of getting even with his ex-wife.

Objects in Bialy

The over-arching presence of the color of white is highly understandable in this film, whose plot not only deals with legality from start to finish, but also takes place in the snowy Christmastime of Warsaw, Poland. Purity and sterility are also a part of the symbolism of whiteness, but it is the build-up of an unexpected plan that makes it possible for a homeless hairdresser like Karol, to become a wealthy businessman in what seems to be a few short weeks. Kieslowski shows that anything is possible in an environment of equality.

In Rouge, the audience watches Valentine (Irène Jacob) and Auguste (Jean-Pierre Lorit) through a series of peeps into their apartments and onto the street that separates them. They do not even suspect how their lives will eventually intersect. But the viewer, or rather the voyeur, knows that somehow they will come together. It takes the involvement of books dropped in the middle of the street, a collision with a German Shepherd, a spying judge, an unfaithful girlfriend, and a ferry in the English Channel to finally link the two main characters who are already neighbors living in Geneva.

Objects in Rouge

Rouge is the culmination of the trilogy, both in message and literally in the conclusion. From the beginning, the film emphasizes chance, transportation, and communication through a series of images of telephone wires, repeated locations, and cars on the street. In this piece, Kieslowski uses so many red objects and so much symbolism that it is impossible to miss the meaning of the emblematic, even fetishistic, imagery.

The core of the trilogy is to draw attention to the colors of the French flag. At first glance, this may seem a bit odd for a Polish director. It is likely that Kieslowski’s obsession with France has more to do with the French government funding his films than any sense of connection he has to France or French people. However, it can be deduced that he found the French government far superior to the disorganization that fell upon Poland in the years after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Objects in Trois Couleurs

In its entirety, Trois Couleurs employs the use of at least 190 blue, white, and red objects. In number, the red and white objects are more prevalent—one wonders if this was the intention of Kieslowski. Overall, Kieslowski employs all three films to draw attention to the importance of interconnectedness and equality. Additionally, it is important to consider the colors of the Polish and Swiss flags. Poland’s flag consists of two equal stripes of white and red while the Swiss flag is red with a white cross at the center. Counting each color equally in each the French, Polish, and Swiss Flag, that graph looks like this:

Colors in French, Polish, and Swiss Flags

It’s impressive how similar the last two graphs are to one another.

Another way to assess meaning behind the colors is to measure the significance of the most important objects in the films, including all colors involved. This study incorporates the following objects:

“Karol” flashing light sign @ salon
Auguste’s Jeep
Suspenders (2 – red + brown)
Ballet barre
Bottle of pear brandy
Volvo
Crystal chandelier
Bouquet of daisies
Door of the dispensary
Doors in veterinary office
File folder
Glass wall of Julie’s hospital balcony
Kitchen chairs (2 – red + white)
Candy wrapper
Painting in Olivier’s apartment
Papers (flying out of the crashed car)
Phone wires + circuitry
Pills
Ribbon on TV antenna
Rita’s leash + collar
Sculpture of woman’s bust
Unfinished glass of…
Word on box (Blanco)
Coffins
Fountain pen
Necklace with gold cross pendant
Wool blanket

In graphic form, these significant objects look like this:

It is clear that the red objects appear most often.

Overall, this series of charts demonstrates how Trois Couleurs emphasizes the importance of interconnection and brotherhood. Although it is possible that the director got carried away in using blue, white, and red objects, especially his use of red toward the conclusion, knowing the careful eye of Kieslowski was usually so calculating and well planned, it seems unlikely that the balance of blue, white, and red objects could have happened by chance. But Kieslowski probably wanted it to seem this way.

Trois Couleurs: Bleu, Bialy, Rouge were released in 1993, 1994, and 1994, respectively. Krzysztof Kieslowski co-wrote the films with Krzysztof Piesiewicz. Both Krzysztofs were natives of Warsaw, Poland. Kieslowski died in 1996 during open-heart surgery following a heart attack.

Omdat ik vandaag over precies een maand jarig ben en me dan natuurlijk suf pieker over wat ik moet vragen:

*De nieuwe cd van Anthony and the Johnsons
*De Trois Couleurs-box
*Het boek van Der Baader-Meinhof Complex
*De laatste column bundel van Aaf Brandt Corstius
*Een LP van Nina Simone

Finalul lui Bleu, regizat de Kieslowski, absolut demential de inaltatoare muzica. E atit de aproape de sublim incit …

1 Corinthians:13 (“Hymn to Love”)

Sinfonia Varsovia, conducted by Wojciech Michniewski
Elzbieta Towarnicka, soprano
The Silesia Philharmonic Choir.

Lyrics:
Ean tes gloses ton anthropon lalo ke ton angelon
agapin de mi eho, gegona halkos ihon i cymbalon alalazon.
Ke ean eho profitian ke ido ta mystiria panta
oste ori methistanin,agapin de mi eho
ouden imi.
I agapi makrothymi, christevete,
I agapi ou zili, i agapi ou perperevete, ou fysioute.
Panta stegi, panta pistevi, panta elpizi, panta ypomeni,
i agapi oudepote ekpipti
ite de profitie katargithisonte
ite glose pafsonte
ite gnosis katargithisete
Nini de meni, pistis, elpis, agapi,
ta tria tafta,
mizon de touton i agapi.

English translation:
Though I speak with the tongues of angels
if have not love, my worlds would resound with but a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries
and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains
if I have not love I am nothing
Love is patient, full of goodness,
love tolerates all things, aspires to all things
Love never dies
while the prophecies shall be done away
tongues shall be silenced
knowledge shall fade
Thus then shall linger only
faith, hope and love
but the greatest of these is love.

I loved these three movies when I was a lost 20 something in a flagging mill town trying to find my way into the world around me. I don’t know that these French movies are as relevant today as they were 15 years ago, but they are a triple treat nonetheless.

When I made the wife sit through them a year or so ago, she didn’t seem to share my passion for the cinematic prowess of Juliette Binoche.

But that’s ok.

Faire une image en 3 couleurs !

Dans ce tuto nous allons modifier une image pour faire en sorte qu’elle soit uniquement en 3 couleurs (trichromie)

Logiciels : Gimp

Durée : Très court, 5-10mn

Outils : Sélection par couleur, pot de peinture.

Le tuto ici

Résultat final :

… கிரைஸ்டாஃப் கெய்ஸ்லாவ்ஸ்கி அவர்களை கடவுள் என்று ஒத்துக்கொள்கிறேன்! இப்போதுதான் ‘வெரோனிகாவின் இரட்டை வாழ்க்கை‘ என்ற படத்தை பார்த்து முடித்தேன். இப்படியெல்லாம் படம் எடுக்கமுடிந்தவர் கடவுளாகத்தான் இருக்கவேண்டும்!

இது நான் பார்க்கும் அவருடைய 15ஆவது படமாகும். அத்தனையும் காலத்தால் அழியாத பொக்கிஷங்கள். மிச்சம் இருப்பவற்றையும் பார்க்காமல் விடுவதாகயில்லை. நீங்களும் பாருங்கள்! இது வரை நான் பார்த்திருப்பவை,

1. மூன்று நிறங்கள்: நீலம், வெள்ளை, சிவப்பு.

இந்திரா படத்தில் வரும் நாயகி சுவரில் கையை உராசும் காட்சியை சுஹாசினி நீலம் படத்திலிருந்துதான் எடுத்தார்.

2. Dekalog.

10 பாகங்கள். 1, 5 மற்றும் 7 அற்புதமானவை. இதில் இரண்டு பகுதிகள் முழு படமாக வந்தன. இது பற்றிய எனது ஆங்கில பதிவு இங்கே. Stanley Kubrick இந்த தொடர்தான் உலக திரைப்பட வரலாற்றின் ஒரே Master Piece என்று குறிப்பிட்டார்!

3. Blind Chance.

சமிபத்தில் மறைந்த இயக்குனர் ஜீவா, 12B கதையில் வரும் ‘பேருந்தை நாயகன் பிடித்தால், பிடிக்காவிட்டால்’ என்கிற நுட்பத்தை இங்கிருந்துதான் எடுத்திருந்தார். அவரை குறைசொல்லிப் பயனில்லை. Run Lola Run என்கிற புகழ்பெற்ற ஜெர்மானிய படத்திலும் இதே நுட்பத்தை கொஞ்சம் மாற்றி பயன்படுத்தியிருந்தார்கள்.

4. வெரோனிகாவின் இரட்டை வாழ்க்கை.