Bleu des villes, Le (1999)

Director:

Stéphane Brizé

Writers:

Stéphane Brizé (writer)
Florence Vignon (writer)

Release Date:

8 December 1999 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music

Plot:

Solange is unhappy. She's a meter maid in Tours, working in the rain, subject to verbal abuse from those she cites...

Plot Keywords:

Building House | Writer | Weather Girl | Video Camera | Union

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Florence Vignon	...	Solange Rouault
Mathilde Seigner	...	Mylène
Antoine Chappey	...	Patrick Rouault
Philippe Duquesne	...	Jean-Paul
Clotilde Mollet	...	Corinne
Jenny Alpha	...	Jocelyne
Liliane Rovère	...	La mère de Solange
François Gamard	...	Le père de Solange
Jacques Boudet	...	Le chef de secteur
Alice Isner	...	La grand-mère de Solange
Dominique Besnehard	...	Producteur de Disques
Vincent Jaspard	...	Le syndicaliste
Pierre-Yves Chapalain	...	Le responsable des espaces verts
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marc Bonnel	...	Le Maire
Aurélien Cabat	...	Dragueur Boite de Nuit
Mickaël Calle	...	Chanteur karaoke
Elisabeth Catroux	...	Automobiliste agressive
Thomas Chabrol	...	Dragueur fête Mylene
Patrick Chagneau	...	Photographe mairie
Miguel Charpeau	...	Animateur karaoké
François Cornuau	...	Videur boîte de nuit
François Coulin	...	Client restaurant
Groupe Vocal de Mettray	...	La chorale des contractuelles
Jean-Claude Larrieu	...	Prêtre
Hervé Lavayssière	...	A Doctor
Caroline Lobert	...	Caissière magasin de carrelage
Brigitte Lucas	...	Attachée de presse mairie
Jean-François Maohousa	...	Vigile magasin de carrelage
Patricia Pottier	...	Contractuelle de l'année
Jean-Claude Roy	...	Amant de la mère de Solange
Elena Serra	...	La Morte

Also Known As:

Hometown Blue (Europe: English title)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Malaysia:U | France:U | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Centre Hospitalier, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines, France

Company:

Canal+

Trivia:

First film of Alice Isner, debuting at age 98. First full-length picture of Stéphane Brizé.

Movie Connections:

Features Long zai tian ya (1989)

Soundtrack:

A touch of silk

Vignon gives a superb, terrific performance

If I were a judge of an award, I would vote for Florence Vignon to get the Best Actress award. She gives a superb, terrific performance in this film. The expression on her face and her eyes convey very well the complicated feelings and emotions of her troubled character, Solange. By her acting, one can feel what Solange feels. One can understand her reasons, her impulses, her changing, and her heart. One can sympathize with Solange, and some might even be able to identify with this character. Vignon really made Solange come alive.

Apart from the acting, there are many other good things about this movie. One is that this heartfelt movie has given some audience the badly-needed encouragement and inspiration to pursue their dream and helped them to restore hope in life. Moreover, though this film focuses on the unreasonably unhappy feelings of a married woman, I find that I have experienced many same feelings, many same moments as this character. The feelings experienced by Solange are really universal. What this character feels is not only reserved for married women, but is also felt by many people no matter whether they are man or woman, married or single, western or oriental, simple people or great philosophers, living in the present or living thousands of years ago. For some people, it is very easy to identify with Solange because sometimes you can feel very unhappy, feel very bored with your life and you don't know exactly why. You don't know for sure which person or which thing is the real cause of your unhappiness. Things around you seem to go smoothly. People close to you are still nice to you. But you know deep inside you are unhappy. You don't know for sure if changing your job or your lifestyle will make your life better or worse. You just know that now you are a living dead and you don't want to go on living like this. For some of you who have ever asked yourself , `Are there more to life than this?', `If I pursue my dream, will it turn out to be just an illusion?', you will find Solange as your kindred spirit. For some of you who have ever hoped someone else will help you change your life, this film might give you a good lesson.

Another thing that I like is that there are no real villains in this movie. Every main character shows both their good and bad sides. Every character here deserves sympathy though they have their own weaknesses and stupidity.

One of the most memorable scenes in this movie is a scene at the car park when Solange let out her long-suppressed anger and frustration. This scene is as powerful and deserves applauding as another car park scene in `Fried Green Tomatoes.' While the audience cannot release their pressure directly like this in real life, Vignon and Kathy Bates help us release it indirectly.

But my most favourite scene is the scene when Solange sit alone in the park. I feel connected to her the most in this scene, though I think it is too short. I wish this scene could be much longer, or could be inserted repeatedly into the story. I understand that scenes like this-character doing nothing-are not necessary at all in the narrative process. Scenes like this have no effect on the story, and including them will make those mainstream audience crying dull or bore and lessen the box office receipts. But for me, scenes like this are the ones that have the greatest emotional impact. I love this film very much, but I think I could have loved it more if it dared to discard `story' and gives higher priority to feelings and emotions of characters. (But if any director do as I wish, it's highly likely he will have great trouble seeking financial support for his next film.)

Eventually, I think Solange made the right decision at the end.