Blue (Derek Jarman, 1993)

[Matt]

The greatest set of screen caps in the history of DVD Beaver.

[Cinesimilitude]

The greatest set of screen caps in the history of DVD Beaver.

priceless. They could just put the soundtrack on a cd and provide a booklet with a page of credits, the centerfold as just two pages of blue, and the closing credits on the last page.

[denti alligator]

priceless. They could just put the soundtrack on a cd and provide a booklet with a page of credits, the centerfold as just two pages of blue, and the closing credits on the last page.

I have the soundtrack, which I love, and it's almost as you describe it.

[Subbuteo]

The greatest set of screen caps in the history of DVD Beaver.

Yeah it is a pretty futile release...

I would suggest if interested that you get the excellent CD from Mute of the soundtrack to the film, rather than any DVD of 'Blue'

Wittgenstein & Caravaggio aside this is one of Jarman's most beautiful works, very sad but the work is a fitting testament to a wonderful human being.

I remember with fond affection an evening with friends when we sat and listened to this...to me Jarman was more than just a filmmaker he was a great natural historian and unique intreprator of the English landscape.

[dadaistnun]

this is one of Jarman's most beautiful works, very sad but the work is a fitting testament to a wonderful human being.

I couldn't agree more. I had listened to the cd several times before I ever had the opportunity to 'see' the film. It was a memorable experience in a theater. Everyone in the audience seemed to be in a meditative state throughout and was visibly moved when the film was over.

[Tommaso]

I would suggest if interested that you get the excellent CD from Mute of the soundtrack to the film, rather than any DVD of 'Blue'

Not sure about this. The point is that that blue should engulf you, draw you in, calm your visual senses in order to open your mind to what is going on on the soundtrack. It's pretty much like meditation. And it cannot be achieved by just looking at a cd-size blue paper. The bigger the screen for this, the better.

This dvd reviewed by Beaver seems to be very bad, but there is/was an acceptable one by German company 'edition salzgeber', which has the original audio in a very clear stereo mix. The reproduction of the blue, however, is also far from faultless. Strange how difficult it seems to be to simply reproduce a blue screen on dvd... but then, that dvd is from the year 2001 or something.

[Subbuteo]

I would suggest if interested that you get the excellent CD from Mute of the soundtrack to the film, rather than any DVD of 'Blue'

Not sure about this. The point is that that blue should engulf you, draw you in, calm your visual senses in order to open your mind to what is going on on the soundtrack. It's pretty much like meditation. And it cannot be achieved by just looking at a cd-size blue paper. The bigger the screen for this, the better.

Tommaso, exactly the same effect can be achieved by closing one's eyes (it is not the colour that matters!). However I take your point but suggest for a blue screen to be effective you would need to be at a picturehouse, not in front of a TV, hence the futility of a DVD in my opinion.

[Tommaso]

Closing your eyes isn't the worst idea when listening to the soundtrack only, of course. But I think that the blue is not purely coincidental. It suggests the openness of the sea or of the sky (and in a western context: heaven). Jarman himself has written a book on colours and their meanings, Chroma, and it is from the chapter on blue in this book where most of the text for the film is derived from. For example: "Blue transcends the solemn geography of human limits" or "The fathomless blue of Bliss". Especially in the context of Jarman's imminent death blue is certainly the colour he had most closely associated with eternity and transcendence. Thus I think it's essential for the film.

I agree however that of course the home viewing experience can never reproduce the effect (mindblowing, really) of seeing that film in the cinema.

[Subbuteo]

I agree completely with you regarding Jarman's choice of colour and its likely meaning in the context of him approaching death.

However, outside of the picture house, the choice of blue is immaterial on digital medium but the soundtrack alone in a quiet setting may be of more value. This is all conjecture of course and up to the individual's response. Knowing of Jarman, his condition and that this was to be his last work all added to my personal response. Great piece of work though!

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

I may be wrong, but isn't the CD soundtrack different from the film soundtrack?

[zedz]

The discussion fo Blue is interesting, but really deserves its own thread. I see a DVD release of this as pretty futile: it's a film that's definitely designed for theatrical presentation, as the texture and luminosity of the colour would not be reproducable. I also believe that Jarman specifically intended the vagaries of 35mm (24fps 'flicker', incremental print damage creating a living / dying colourfield, for example) to be a part of the visual experience. In projection, the film is not visually static, so looking at a blue wall, or an unchanging blue screen, does not deliver the same aesthetic experience, just as spending four and a half minutes in an anechoic chamber is not the same thing as attending a performance of John Cage's most famous work.

[Subbuteo]

In projection, the film is not visually static, so looking at a blue wall, or an unchanging blue screen, does not deliver the same aesthetic experience, just as spending four and a half minutes in an anechoic chamber is not the same thing as attending a performance of John Cage's most famous work.

Interesting point/observation

[Subbuteo]

I may be wrong, but isn't the CD soundtrack different from the film soundtrack?

There are subtle differences and some abridgement to Simon Fisher Turner's score... but if I recall the text is the same

[Gordon]

Wittgenstein is coming soon from the BFI, right? If only Karl Popper had lived a wee bit longer, he could have recorded a commentary. Can't wait to see Wittgenstein again.

[Tommaso]

In projection, the film is not visually static, so looking at a blue wall, or an unchanging blue screen, does not deliver the same aesthetic experience, just as spending four and a half minutes in an anechoic chamber is not the same thing as attending a performance of John Cage's most famous work.

That is true, and the German dvd I mentioned is not just a static blue screen. There IS all sorts of grain and 'colour flicker' visible, how much of it is due to the original material and how much due to the compression process is not clear to me however. But as you are unlikely to see the film in the cinema any time soon, it is at least an alternative even if of course it cannot reproduce the film-going experience.

BTW: the same company is now releasing "Angelic Conversation", "Caravaggio" and "Wittgenstein", see here. As far as I read somewhere all have the original audio with optional German subs, so it might be interesting for those who cannot wait for the BFI to release their versions. I think "Conversation" and "Caravaggio" are already out, "Wittgenstein" is coming soon.

[colinr0380]

I'm just glad it is in widescreen! I'm not certain, but wasn't this the film that was also broadcast on the radio at the same time it was shown on television in Britain?

[David Ehrenstein]

I'm not at all sure about this insistence on theatrical presentation. Saw it in a theater with other people and saw it at home as a video. It's a very hushed, meditative work. Derek is talking directly to you via his usual voices and the effect is lovely.

Blue is very much him.

[MichaelB]

I'm not certain, but wasn't this the film that was also broadcast on the radio at the same time it was shown on television in Britain?

Yes - it was a simulcast between Channel 4 and BBC Radio 3, which was reasonably common practice before digital stereo TV broadcasts became widely accessible. I also remember a radio critic discussing it as though it was purely a radio play and saying it was one of the best things Radio 3 had done all year.

Incidentally, my 43" set defaults to a blue screen if it's not receiving a signal, so I'd only need the CD.

[zedz]

I'm not at all sure about this insistence on theatrical presentation. Saw it in a theater with other people and saw it at home as a video. It's a very hushed, meditative work. Derek is talking directly to you via his usual voices and the effect is lovely.

Blue is very much him.

I should probably clarify my comments above. As a film, it's really designed for theatrical presentation (big, subtly shifting colourfield). But Jarman designed it as more than just a film: it also works as a sound work (hence radio & CD). In my opinion, if you're going to experience it on video / DVD at home, the experience is not much different than listening to the CD: you're not really getting the visual dimension as Jarman intended.

[colinr0380]

The greatest set of screen caps in the history of DVD Beaver.

Off topic from Blue, but following on from the "greatest screen caps in history" we now have the greatest chapter titles on scene selection menus ever! (Scroll halfway down the page to see the picture of the scene selection menu!)

[godardslave]

The greatest set of screen caps in the history of DVD Beaver.

the review/screencaps are almost bordering on self-parody.
maybe even satire?

[jon]

exactly the same effect can be achieved by closing one's eyes (it is not the colour that matters!).

I believe the color does matter because Jarman was in a permanent state of seeing nothing but this blue color, making the film more of a "through his eyes" personal experience. That is why he made the film this way.

[foggy eyes]

I watched this on the AE VHS about a year ago - I was desperate to see it in at least some form, but had to give up after 20 minutes because the battered VHS was creating free-associative analogue patterns across the image.

Not worth it.

[Cinesimilitude]

The greatest set of screen caps in the history of DVD Beaver.

Off topic from Blue, but following on from the "greatest screen caps in history" we now have the greatest chapter titles on scene selection menus ever! (Scroll halfway down the page to see the picture of the scene selection menu!)

scroll down on this page for my favorite scene selection titles...

[Subbuteo]

Artificial Eye plan to release Blue in July

source