''Blue'' is a 1993 British

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Derek Jarman Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, poet, gardener, and gay rights activist. Biography Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing ...

. It is his final feature film, released four months before his death from

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

-related complications. Such complications had already rendered him partially blind at the time of the film's release and he was only able to see in shades of blue. The film was his last testament as a film-maker and consists of an unchanging entirely blue screen, to a soundtrack where Jarman's and some of his long-time collaborators' narration describes his life and vision.

Structure

The film is split into two halves, with differing strands of narration. The first story, intercut with the second, tells the adventures of Blue, as a character and color. Blue is described as getting into fights with other colors, "Yellowbelly scorches the earth with its accursed breath...", to adventures, "Marco Polio stumbles across the blue mountains...". The other story features the day-to-day life of Derek Jarman, a gay man living in 1990s London, and the complications of living with AIDS. Some of the events mentioned are realistic and true, such as visiting a café with friends, discussing the war in Sarajevo, and having difficulty with day-to-day life, such as putting clothes on backward. Others feel more dreamlike, such as when Jarman wonders what is beyond the sky. This contrasts with thoughts of his health and how long he has left until he dies, the weakening of his body, and the eventual downfall of his eyesight. There are also a handful of sections in which Jarman daydreams. The narration mentions walking across the sky, and wondering what an astronaut may be like. The film's final moments consist of a set of names, being repeated. "John. Daniel. Howard. Graham. Terry. Paul". These names are all former lovers and friends of Jarman who had died of AIDS. Jarman himself succumbed to AIDS on 19 February 1994 at the age of 52, just months after the film's premiere.

Cast

All narrators: * John Quentin *

Nigel Terry Peter Nigel Terry (15 August 1945 – 30 April 2015) was an English stage, film, and television actor, typically in historical and period roles. He played Prince John in Anthony Harvey's film '' The Lion in Winter'' (1968) and King Arthur in ...

Tilda Swinton Katherine Matilda Swinton (born 5 November 1960) is a British actress. She is known for playing eccentric and enigmatic characters, often working with auteurs. Her accolades include an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, and a Volpi Cup, in addit ...

Release and premiere

On its premiere, on 19 September 1993,

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

and

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

collaborated on a simultaneous broadcast so viewers could enjoy a

stereo Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

soundtrack. Radio 3 subsequently broadcast the soundtrack separately as a radio

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

and it was later released as a CD. The film has been released on DVD in Germany and Italy. On 23 July 2007, British distributor 'Artificial Eye' released a DVD tying ''Blue'' with ''Glitterbug'', a collage of Jarman's Super-8 footage. Cinematographer

Christopher Doyle Christopher Doyle, also known as Dù Kěfēng (Mandarin) or Dou Ho-Fung (Cantonese) () (born 2 May 1952) is an Australian cinematographer, best known for his work in Hong Kong cinema. He has worked on over fifty Chinese-language films, being ...

has called ''Blue'' one of his favourite films, calling it "one of the most intimate films I've ever seen."Johnston, Sheila (19 April 2005
''Film-makers on film: Christopher Doyle''
telegraph.co.uk

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blue (1993 Film) 1993 films 1993 drama films Gay-related films British LGBTQ-related films 1993 LGBTQ-related films 1990s avant-garde and experimental films 1990s LGBTQ-related drama films HIV/AIDS in British films Non-narrative films Films about blind people Film4 Productions films Films directed by Derek Jarman 1990s English-language films 1990s British films Autobiographical documentary films English-language documentary films

Structure

Cast

Release and premiere

See also

References

External links