Protocol for April 4, 2001

FORL 3160

Professor Robert C. Reimer

            On Wednesday, April 4, 2001 European Cinema class was scheduled to discuss the films Blue and No End by Kieslowski.  Blue had been viewed during the previous class.  No End was to be viewed individually before discussion day.  Students were expected to have the typed answers to the question sheet that was given out during the Blue viewing time.

            Class began at two o’clock with an announcement and question section that lasted approximately twenty-five minutes.  Professor Reimer stated that the Starlight Theater located on Highway 29 would show a few French films during the month of April.  Admission is free with a valid 49er Student Identification card.  A freewrite on one of these films could possibly be worth up to 10 points of extra credit. 

            Several students were concerned about the oral report and medium length essay.  Professor Reimer cleared up these concerns by explaining all aspects of what was required and when.  The medium length essay is due the last day of class, May 2^nd.  Students have the opportunity to turn it in April 11^th if they wish the opportunity to rewrite for a better grade.  The oral presentations are to be five minutes in length and they should coincide with the topic of your paper.  A student’s presentation can run an extra one to two minutes if a movie clip is used.  A movie clip is, however, not mandatory.  If one chooses to use a clip it should be short and relevant to the presentation’s topic. 

            At approximately twenty-five after the hour all the students formed groups of four or five.  This was done in order to perform small group discussions dealing with the assigned questions regarding Blue and No End.   Each group had the equivalent of secretary who was recording the various ideas and answers shared by the group members.  After ten minutes Professor Reimer told the groups to separate.  Everyone returned to his or her original seating arrangement.

            Professor Reimer started class discussion by asking, “Why blue?”   Most responses were dealing with the fact that blue is symbolic of sorrow.  Kieslowski used blue because it symbolizes liberty in the France’s red, white, and blue flag.  He also has films titled White and Red (colors symbolizing equality and friendship).  Kieslowski was originally from Poland.  He moved to France after the fall of communism. 

Question number one dealt with the use of coincidence as a structuring device.  A student pointed out that the whole movie is a series of random events (coincidences) that eventually lead the main character back to a fulfilling life.  The student in a sentence that left him gasping for breath said the below paraphrased statement.

            Julie sees a fight in the street, she goes out to investigate and gets locked out.  While locked out she sees a prostitute in the building who smiles at her.  Julie refuses to vote the woman out of the apartment and they become friends.  The prostitute later calls Julie from a sex club.  Julie goes to the club to help her friend where she sees a special news report about her husband.  The report informs her that her lover is working on her husband’s last project and she sees pictures of her husband’s mistress.  She confronts her lover and the mistress which leads to her finding out about the pregnancy.  All of these events, which occur in sequential order, lead Julie out of hiding.

            All of the things the student mentioned had to have happened in the order they did and at the time they occurred.  Professor Reimer stated that this movie is “plot-driven.”  Meaning that it is a series of building blocks that define the whole film.  Another example of a plot driven movie was Run Lola Run.  Lola like Julie had to deal with situations that were out of her control.  Lola even went so far as to play out the same story three times with different coincidences.  Professor Reimer took this opportunity to display another film that examined coincidence much like Run Lola Run. 

            The film Blind Chance was by Kieslowski while he was still in Poland.  We watched a six minute clip that showed how three different outcomes of a man’s life depended on one moment at a train station.  The clip started with a man’s mouth open and screaming.  It then goes to a train station where the same man is rushing to a train that is about to leave him.  He runs and jumps on to the train just in time.  He gets to the city where he becomes a communist. The next scene is one in which he is about leave Poland for France, but his exit visa is denied and he is stuck behind the iron curtain.  The film then flashes back to the original train station.  The man is running after the train but he doesn’t make it.  He then runs into a security officer and ends up in jail.  The film flashes back to the train station yet again.  The man misses his train and consequently meets his old girlfriend.  They get married and it looks like a happy ending until he finally gets to leave Poland, but his plane explodes.  The clip ends.

            Is life just a flip of the coin or does there seem to be a master plan?  Professor Reimer shared his own personal experience.  He talked about falling thirty feet down an elevator shaft.  He then spent a week in the hospital where he met his future wife.  He said that if he hadn’t fallen back then he might not be who he is today.              

            Question number two asked if there were scenes in the film that seemed to have no connection to other scenes in the movie.  Students answered with several examples that Professor Reimer later explained their significance.  Below is a list of the major scenes that didn’t seem to fit.

¨ Old lady recycling bottle                         she’s alone like Julie

¨ Julie’s mother didn’t recognize her                further illustrated her loneliness

¨ The baby mice                                         reminded Julie of her dead child

¨ Swimming                                                     as in Babycakes symbolizes “blocking out”

¨ Skydiving                                                     a blue sky and the divers are alone 

Question number three was to analyze the effect on the viewer of Kieslowski’s use of blacking out the scene only to return to the same point when the visual returns.  A student explained his theory that it was the director’s way of expressing to the viewer that Julie was having a transitional thought.  The thought seemed to take her out of the present and remind her of her grief.  Another student observed that Julie’s expression always had changed when the scene returned.  Professor Reimer also brought up the idea that Kieslowski was saying that music can only exist in time, since the music didn’t stop in the blackout (thus showing continuation in time progression). 

            With only a few minutes left in class, we examined question number four.  The question compared Blue’s use of Corinthians, I, 13 to Through a Glass Darkly’s use of the same verse.  Since this verse deals with the importance of love it has the same meaning in each film.  Professor Reimer emphasized this by saying it has the same message.  “We have to care for others.”  The version of the film shown on Monday had edited the verse out of the film.  Professor Reimer showed us a clip of the version with the verse left in.  At the end of the movie it is read as we flash through the images of the people who have been in Julie’s journey. 

            Class time ended and Professor Reimer dismissed the students.  He said we would discuss the rest of the questions later.