La note bleue (Blue Note) is Andrzej Zulawski's tenth feature film and was made 20 years after his debut, The Third Part of the Night. It is Zulawski's sixth French film out of seven in total. On an abstract level, La note bleue shares some loose similarities with The Third Part of the Night. Both films deal with the end of a particular life and are filled with phantasmagoria. However, the overall tone and content of La note bleue are quite different in strongly pronounced ways.
La note bleu is about the final hours of composer Fryderyk Chopin's artistic life, the last few sparks of creative expression. First time actor and famed pianist Janusz Olejniczak gloriously captures the exact balance among intensity, lightness, and sadness to establish the emotional triangle of Zulawski's atypical film. Chopin is living in France as a Polish expatriate, which mirrors Zulawski's transnational life when the film was made. At the end of Chopin's life his relationship with lover George Sand (played by Marie France-Pisier) has withered away. An unusual relationship is forming between Chopin and Sand's daughter, Solange, who is beautifully played by Zulawski's then wife Sophie Marceau. There is a cast of unusual artistic characters floating around this film, friends of Chopin's who are beside him during his last hours as a music composer.
Zulawski's nuanced drifting cinematic style is distinguishable in La note bleue, yet is intentionally restrained. The camera work glides through space in a hypnotic manner with an uncommon lightness that hovers over the proceedings. Zulawski's camera takes on a much slower rhythm, a conscious decision that pays off in spades. These stylistic choices complement the narrative plot and its playful spirit. La note bleue is beautiful to behold, displaying a lyrical quality that looks straight into the eye of a great abyss while laughing along the way.
At the crux of La note bleue is the art one has made in this life and the life that is now trickling away. Chopin, aged only 36, is seen in a French mansion crafting his final composition during the final 36 hours of his artistic life. Chopin went on to live another three years after the storyline in La note bleue concludes, yet he never wrote another composition. During the film, Chopin is extremely ill, suffering fits of coughing up blood. Beyond that, mass hallucinations drench the landscape of the film. Ghost-like creatures, phantoms and wisps are in the background of the film. The presence of these phantasmagorical beings grows as the film continues. Harmonizing with the lighter aspects of La note bleue, the strange dreamy characters in the background are not menacing; rather, they frolic about the fields and within the mansion. Chopin's actual friends also surround him. They discuss art, prepare meals, and provide Chopin with loyal support. The film is full of comical and absurd moments.
Piano music perpetually plays in La note bleue. If Chopin is not seen or heard playing the piano during the film, airy piano scores take over the sonic background of scenes. Zulawski's sound design works in an engaging and powerful way. It sustains the tone and focus while the ever present piano intensifies the dreamlike qualities that La note bleue possesses.
La note bleue is a film that meanders. There is no anxiety to piece together a concise plot with precise segments. Instead, the viewer is left with a succession of scenes that play out in a much more realistic fashion. Even though there are fantastic elements in La note bleue, Zulawski magically captures the essence of a personal and collective life experience seen as gossamer threads. There is a sadness in the film that is unmistakable and difficult to pin down with lucidity. This quality pierces the film during the scenes that display how broken Chopin's relationship has become with Sand. Even though their relationship is a pale and dead version of what once was, she is still able to guide him towards the blue note. Like other Zulawski films such as That Most Important Thing: Love, the sorrowful feelings represented by protagonists go far beyond words. I think the ability to bring us to a sphere of wordlessness is one of Zulawski's greatest skills as a director. The scenes between Chopin and Sand, Chopin and Solange most illuminate this tension. Considering that La note bleue is a film about a composer, Zulawski wonderfully merges the worlds of music and life itself. There are no words left yet the blue note exists.
I saw La note bleue once before as part of a series titled, Romance in Light:Fryderyk Chopin and the Cinema. It screened at Lincoln Center on May 8, 2010. The print BAM played as part of the Zulawski career retrospective appeared to be the same one that screened at Lincoln Center a couple years back. The main difference this time around was the number of people in the theater. Back in 2010 I was saddened by the total lack of turnout for the incredibly rare opportunity for people to see a 35mm print of a Zulawski film theatrically. This time far more individuals turned up in Brooklyn for a nearly-full screening.
