The Blue Room review
Mathieu Amalric is probably best known as a Bond villain or the star of The Diving Bell, and the Butterfly. He has of course starred in many works, averaging between 4-6 films a year this decade so far. Amalric always pushes himself, so it’s no surprise to find him behind the camera for the third time, for what may very well be his mini-masterpiece. The Blue Room has everything an actor/director could want, but somehow Amalric strips all that away, leaving us with a subtle, brisk, and cleverly sparse film.
The titular blue room is one where Julian (Amalric) and Esther (Stephanie Cleau) conduct their extramarital affair. The two conduct their infidelity while seeming completely at ease with one another, only for their passions to take over, leading to biting and more detectable and dangerous play. The film is then a mystery, with Julian arrested and investigated, for something we are not privy to. Is it in some way connected to his affair? Has he been framed by a jealous party? Or are the events completely unrelated? Amalric answers (to an extent) these questions through the use of flashbacks and other stylised techniques.
The Blue Room review
The ‘what did they do’ rather than the ‘whodunnit’ formula is always an intriguing one. It raises so many more questions and possibilities than simply attempting to guess who was responsible for the heinous act. Amalric gives us just enough of everything as his tale unfolds, making us question what happened, and whether or not Julian is responsible. Without having to resort to red-herrings, the plot stays on track, and instead uses narrative reveals to carefully drip feed us the relevant information.
Elsewhere, the film is constructed like a classical romance more than a thriller. Evoking works of Hitchcock in its doomed love affair stylings, we see a man making bad decisions, torn between women, one of whom is potentially dangerous, but like the character himself we are sucked in by that danger. Shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio, with a string score Gregoire Hetzel that could have been almost parody if not paired with competent direction and laced with poetic irony.
The Blue Room review
The short running time both works for and against The Blue Room, keeping it travelling at a pleasurable pace that reveals information before the plot can get stale, while also preventing us from getting to know some of the more important characters. However, by the time the mystery draws to a close with a delightfully frustrating ambiguity, it’s clear that Amalric has gone for quality and not quantity. A powerful and beautifully considered film, The Blue Room deserves repeated viewings.
The Blue Room review by Luke Ryan Baldock, September 2016.
The Blue Room is released on the 9th September.
