European Cinema
Spring 2002

Minutes for 04 - 03 - 02
 

< For this class date we are scheduled to discuss the films No End and Blue >

2:00pm - 2:10pm

* Dr. Reimer began the class by informing us of the upcoming film Three Penny Opera ,
as well as the performance of Three Penny Opera to be performed on the campus of
UNCC.

* The on campus production of Three Penny Opera will be on the following dates:
                              April 10 - 14 and April 17 - 20
                 ~ You must attend one of these performances~
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2:10pm - 2:25pm

* Dr. Reimer said that Monday, April 8, 2002, he would bring a sign-up sheet to class.
This is for us to sign-up for individual conferences with him regarding our grades and
upcoming papers.

* Dr. Reimer reminded the class that April 15 & 17 there is to be no formal class meeting
due to the individual conferences.

* April 22, 2002 is the time we will be discussing Three Penny Opera and beginning to
wind up the rest of the semester.

* Dr. Reimer also reminded the class that April 24, 29, and May 1, 2002 were the dates
for the oral reports to be given. He will have us draw for presentation times on Monday,
April 8, 2002.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2:25pm - 3:20pm

*Dr. Reimer broke the class into groups to discuss the films No End and Blue.

* After a 15-minute period, Dr. Reimer asked all to come back together as a class so that
we could hear what the different groups had discussed.
 

* With regards to the first question asking about coincidence and how Krystof
Kieslowski used it to structure the film, these were some of the replies:

       - Ryan mentioned the coincidence of Julie's disovery of her late husband's mistress
         through the television interview with Olivier while in the strip club consoling Lucille.

       - Michelle spoke of the lue chandelier opening a friendship between Julie and Lucille
         when Lucille notices it hanging in Julie's apartment and says that as a child she (Lucille)
         had had one just like it.

       - Brie talked of the mice in Julie's closet and how they had upset her and that it led to
         Julie going to the pool to escape only to be confronted by several little girls running into
         the pool for a swim lesson.

* Question # 2 dealt with the scenes in Blue that appeared to have no connection to
the rest of the film.

       - Several people mentioned the elderly woman recycling her bottle in the park.

      - Elizabeth made a comparison between the elderly woman's desire to live while both
         Julie and her mother seemed to have no desire whatsoever to live.

      - Another student asked what relevance the guy in the alley getting beaten had on the
         film. Dr. Reimer said that he was a device that got Julie locked out of her apartment.

At this point, Dr. Reimer started talking of  Julie eating the blue sucker as a way of escaping
the pain of losing her only child.
Dr. Reimer then stated that the color blue in the French flag represents Liberty or
Freedom. He said that Julie thought that through negation she would find her freedom.

* We next discussed the effects of the blackouts that director Krystof Kieslowski
used in Blue.

       - Suzanne felt that they were used as visual interludes, much like musical interludes.

       - Ryan thought that when Julie was reminded of the past she would take a moment -
          count to 10 - then "check back in" to the immediate situation.

* The next question dealt with the use of music in Blue.

       - Dr. Reimer made a special note of the music that was used in-between the realm of
         the screen world and the world where he viewer hears it only. This was used over and
         over by Julie hearing the music in her head and the viewer hearing but no one else
         hearing it.

*The final question asked what changes Kieslowski made between No End and
Blue.

      - The class discussed how No End was a political film and that Blue was more a
        philosophical film.

      - In No End the woman commits suicide because she cannot live without her
       husband.

      - Kieslowski uses Blue to show another way of dealing with the pain of losing a loved
        one.
 

• Dr. Reimer noted that friends of Krystof Kieslowski disliked No End due to its acceptance of political compromise.