Sophie Marceau : La Note Bleue 1990

La Note Bleue’ is a sublime film about the last days of acclaimed Polish composer Frédéric Chopin’s life. It was a time when most artists belonging to who’s who of European intellectual tradition rubbed shoulders with each other in order to have a nice time. Apart from George Sand, one can see him surrounded by writers as varied as Ivan Turgenev and Alexandre Dumas Fils.

Director Andrzej Zulawski has directed a film which is bound to please music lovers as much as lovers of cinema. He has cared a lot for authenticity by choosing to cast the real classical pianist Janusz Olejniczak as Chopin. In many ways, he has been able to select the ideal subject for his film as like Chopin, it can be surmised that he too must have had experienced the same sensations of being a talented Pole in an alien land (France).

What is really striking is about this film is the manner in which actors get into the depth of their roles. Whether it is late French actress Marie France Pisier as George Sand or Zulawski’s former wife actress Sophie Marceau as Solange Sand, emotional depth of acting performances is absolutely palpable. There is a lot of listen and see in this film as mellifluous classical music runs throughout and there are plenty of dramatic scenes too. This is one of the few practical reasons for audiences interested in cinema as well as music to watch ‘La Note Bleue’- an honest film made by Andrzej Zulawski who once stated that to please the majority is the requirement of the planet cinema. He went on to add that as far as he is concerned, he doesn’t make a concession to viewers, these victims of life, who think that a film is made only for their enjoyment, and who know nothing about their own existence.