“I'm just fine. I have everything here. I have the TV. You can see the whole world” Trois couleurs: Bleu [Three Colors: Blue] (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1993)
Aug
15
cerulean
Julie (Juliette Binoche) in a blue wallpapered room, observes blue beads suspended in front of a window with a cerulean sky and ocean behind it. Throughout the story, her clothing changes from white, to black, to the darkest charcoal blue, to Prussian blue. DP: Slawomir Idziak.
Cerulean, or blue: in food or fashion*
– the mother
How could I not pick at least one instalment of Kieślowski's Trois couleurs trilogy. Here's blue, the liberté of the tricolor. Blue occurs as the sky to fall through, the room without life, and the cloth that binds.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for August is not date-related but lists, for the most part, the colours of the rainbow.
paris
E-clip-se (Chris Marker, 1999)
Aug
11
1999
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A young woman or child at the Jardin des plantes de Paris wears protective glasses while looking up in amazement during the August 11, 1999 solar eclipse, her baguette a vague memory. DP: Chris Marker.
“The most revolting film I have ever seen” La grande bouffe (Marco Ferreri, 1973)
Jul
21
Andréa Ferréol in a promotional photo. Food styling by actor/food writer Giuseppe Maffioli, DP: Mario Vulpiani.
A character pigging out*
– Mary Whitehouse, via
Four hedonistic gourmands throw a party of the flesh, of meat, of lust, and death.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for July is, for unknown reasons, mostly not date-related and follows some sort of vacation narrative.
“Have you seen Mr Tavernier tonight?”Ascenseur pour l'échafaud [Elevator to the Gallows] (Louis Malle, 1958)
Jun
18
International Panic Day
M Tavernier (Maurice Ronet) seated in an elevator, calmly smoking. Around him several items speak of less calm moments. DP: Henri Decaë.
A character in panic mode on International Panic Day
Julien Tavernier has a plan about how to run off with his boss' wife. There's just this one snag. No time to panic, c'est cool c'est cool.
– I saw you the other morning, eating frites. – I like frites.Bob le flambeur [Bob the Gambler] (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1956)
Jun
13
frites
Anne (Isabelle Corey), a cute blonde with a beret, eats a fry (French, obviously) while giving us a side glance. It's all very proto-Vague. DP: Henri Decaë.
“I'd even lose at hopscotch these days.”Bob le flambeur [Bob the Gambler] (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1956)
Jun
13
Friday
Bob (Roger Duchesne) at the tables, gambling. DP: Henri Decaë.
An unlucky character on Friday the 13th
– Bob Montagné
Bob gambles, and always wins. But then he starts losing. Not just games, also his friends.
“Soyez réalistes, demandez l'impossible”Grands soirs & petits matins [May Days] (William Klein, 1978)
May
24
1968
Sorbonne students discussing the political situation with an elderly Parisian man. DPs: William Klein & Bernard Lutic.
– May 68 slogan
“Hélène Picard, born in Lyon, May 20, 1943. A child in care, she is reported as a runaway, a thief and unstable.”La Femme Bourreau [A Woman Kills] (Jean-Denis Bonan, 1968)
May
20
1943
A dark-haired woman lounging on a bed. DP: Gérard de Battista.
“One must confront vague ideas with clear images” La Chinoise, ou plutôt à la Chinoise: un film en train de se faire [La chinoise] (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967)
Mar
19
Howard University Protest
Yvonne (Juliet Berto) holed up behind piles of Mao's Little Red Book, wielding a machine gun. DP: Raoul Coutard.
Student activism to commemorate the March 19 1968 Howard University Protest
– slogan on a wall
Five Maoist students theorise, then practice a radical overthrow via terrorism.
Loosely based on Dostoyevsky's Бѣсы [The Possessed] (1871–72).
Beaubourg, centre d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou [Beaubourg] (Roberto Rossellini, 1977)
Jan
31
1977
Rossellini on site. DPs: Néstor Almendros, Jean Chiabaut & Emmanuel Machuel.