French Cine-club resumes with 'Three Colours'

August 01, 2007

The French Cine-club, founded and run by Dr Jane Southwood and Dr Helena Duffy (lecturers in French at the University of New England) in association with Alliance Française, will resume at UNE tomorrow.

The films scheduled for August comprise the trilogy known as Trois couleurs: Bleu, Blanc, Rouge (Three Colours: Blue, White, Red - the colours of the French flag), directed by the Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski and dating from 1993-94.

Free and open to the public, the screenings will be at 7.30 pm in the Marnie Yeates room at Mary White College on the 2nd of August (Blue), the 16th of August (White), and the 30th of August (Red). "These films are immensely powerful," Dr Southwood said. "Though it is more than a decade since they first appeared on the screen, their captivating qualities linger in the memory. For example, the haunting music that flows through Blue, and the tones of blue used throughout, are unforgettable."

Blue follows the story of Julie (Juliette Binoche), who loses her husband and daughter in a car accident and whose equanimity is slowly restored by the power of music and the love of Olivier (Benoît Régent). White, which has as its subject the difficulties faced by people in a foreign country and the problematic nature of love, is the story of Karol (Zbigniew Zamachowksi), who returns to Poland at the end of a marriage break-up to a French woman, Dominique (Julie Delpy). Red, woven around the themes of solitude and the difficulties of human communication, is the story of a retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant), whose favorite pastime is spying on his neighbours, and of his relationship with a woman named Valentine (Irène Jacob).

Each film is subtitled in English, and will be preceded by a short introduction at 7. 25 pm. For more information please contact Jane Southwood on 6773 2741 (e-mail: jsouthw5@une.edu.au) or Helena Duffy on 6773 2415 (helena.duffy@une.edu.au).

"We are grateful to Mary White College for making the venue available, and to Gavin Duley for his technical assistance," Dr Southwood said.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at August 1, 2007 11:39 AM