Blue Note (film)

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Movie
German title Blue note
Original title La note bleue
Country of production France , Germany
original language French
Publishing year 1991
length 135 minutes
Rod
Director Andrzej Żuławski
script Andrzej Żuławski
production Marie-Laure Reyre
camera Andrzej Jaroszewicz
cut Marie-Sophie Dubus
occupation

Blue Note (Original title: La Note bleue ) is a French drama film directed by Andrzej Żuławski in 1991, which tells the last days of the relationship between the composer Frédéric Chopin and the writer George Sand .

action

In the summer of 1846, the writer George Sand welcomed illustrious guests to her country estate in Nohant-Vic . While her long-time lover Frédéric Chopin is playing his latest compositions in his room, the painter Eugène Delacroix , the opera singer Pauline Viardot , her husband Louis and her lover, the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev , arrive . Among the guests are Adalbert Grzymala, a compatriot of Chopin, the Ukrainian Countess Laure Czosnowska and Fernand de Préaulx, the fiancé of George's daughter Solange. George, who describes herself as a socialist and recently dismissed her servants, accuses Turgenev as soon as he arrives of still having servants in Russia. She also lets him know that she approves of the fact that her son Maurice is having an affair with Pauline Viardot and is finally maturing into a man in this way. Turgenev leaves a little later. Meanwhile, George's daughter Solange is anything but enthusiastic about the arrival of her fiancé Fernand. She prefers the company of the sensitive Chopin, but he only sees her as a child.

When it comes up during a first meal together that Polish farmers have instigated an uprising against the aristocracy and are murdering and raping through Poland, George says to the horror of her guests that every uprising out of grievances has something good, no matter how brutal he expires. She then begins to cry and complains that she had to toil all night for lack of servants and that she now feels tired and old. As long as she tries to comfort her and lists her many advantages.

Chopin, who suffers from pneumonia and keeps having coughing fits, is convinced that he will soon die. He plays obsessively on his piano to finish his unfinished works. However, George has had enough of his eternal piano playing and wants him to stop. As long as, however, shows understanding that Chopin is a genius plagued by doubts. Angrily, she finally accuses her mother of their numerous love affairs, while so far she has not been allowed to experience love. George comforts her crying daughter, who rides away on a horse shortly afterwards. While preparing dinner, Pauline is bitten in the hand by a rat. George licks her wound off and then pours wine over it. Pauline's husband Louis burns his hand with boiling water. In the meantime, Solange has been thrown from her horse and roams the wilderness on foot. When worried Fernand finds her and tells her how adorable she is, Solange says that she is not good enough for him and that she would only hurt and cheat on him. Fernand wants to marry her anyway, whereupon Solange begins to hit him with a twig.

While the others are in the garden, Solange approaches Chopin again and again. However, this rejects them. When Fernand finally leaves, the young writer Alexandre Dumas arrives , who wistfully tells Chopin and Solange about a Parisian courtesan who always wore camellias and who ultimately died of consumption . Solange is deeply touched by his story and encourages him to write it down. After his departure, Solange dares to try again with Chopin. Chopin finally lets her kiss him and wants to go away with her. George, who at first jealously intervenes, asks Chopin to pretend for one last evening that nothing has happened and to play for her up to the “note bleue”.

Another guest finally arrives: the penniless sculptor Auguste Clésinger. He immediately approaches Solange impetuously. Surprisingly, she accepts his spontaneous marriage proposal and George gives them her blessing. After dinner, George reads something from her latest novel to the others. Pauline and Louis then shake hands that they had previously injured. Chopin, who misses his homeland and now spits blood when he coughs, wants Auguste to make his death mask. When a fire breaks out in front of the house, Chopin and George are left alone. The others, who actually wanted to put out the fire, go into the cellar and announce their future to strange beings on a stage: Maurice will write books, but they will quickly be forgotten. Until then, Auguste will marry, have children with him and be unhappy. Pauline, in turn, will continue her affair with Turgenev. Meanwhile, Chopin plays for George up to “Note bleue”.

background

The film was shot in the summer of 1990. The location was the Château de Puyval in Segonzac in the Corrèze department . The film structures were designed by Jean-Vincent Puzos . Magdalena Biernawska-Teslawska designed the costumes .

The premiere took place on June 5, 1991 in France, where then only 74,996 cinema-goers could be counted. In Germany, the film was first shown on television by arte on October 12, 1997 .

criticism

Yuri German from the All Movie Guide found that director Andrzej Żuławski portrayed the famous personalities of his film “disrespectfully” as “superficial, petty and selfish opportunists”, while Chopin is portrayed as “tragic, misunderstood genius”. Acting on fate, the film seems like “a personal reflection of Żuławski's experiences”, since he, like Chopin, emigrated to France as a Pole. The result is "very theatrical and at times hilarious", but "with all the ups and downs" Chopin's music is "the highlight of the film". It is "played brilliantly" by the Polish pianist Janusz Olejniczak.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. jpbox-office.com
  2. ^ “Filmmaker Andrzej Zulawski irreverently depicted his famous characters as shallow, petty, selfish opportunists, while Chopin is portrayed as a tragic, misunderstood genius. Ultimately a story about destiny, the film seems a personal reflection of Zulawski's experiences, for both he and Chopin were Polish expatriates in France. The film is highly theatrical and occasionally hilarious, but despite its ups and downs, the movie's highlight is Chopin's music, brilliantly performed by Polish pianist Janusz Olejniczak. " Yuri German, cf. omovie.com