The Blue Room

The Blue Room is a wonderful film directed by Mathieu Amalric, one of my favorite French actors. He captures beautifully the other side of the writings of Georges Simenon. Most people know Simenon’s Maigret books, where the stolid inspector always solves the crime. But Simenon wrote other, darker novels like The Blue Room that are about more absurd, insoluble "crimes." Amalric, both in his acting and in his direction, captures this existential mood beautifully. The film is unsettling and riveting as we follow the two married lovers from their affair through the deaths of their spouses, the interrogation of Julien, and the trial of the lovers for murder. It is up to the audience to decide whether the lovers are guilty, especially the enigmatic Esther, who says cryptically at the end that the lovers will at least be together in the same prison for life. But are they truly guilty? Is one guilty and not the other, and if so, who? It is up to you to decide if you see this film.

This is a crime story based on one of Georges Simenon's novels. It is as French as it can be. The movie is made as a series of flashbacks between a bedroom episodes (blue bedroom as you can guess) and interrogation scenes. It is like a puzzle, details are coming slow, piece by piece, and you are getting the whole picture. Or not. Attention to detail is amazing. There were few things that bothered me though: a drop of blood looked too unreal, the protagonist was permanently dazzled. The movie is left intentionally open-ended, leaving plenty of room to discuss possible perpetrators of the crime. Which is probably not bad but I left a theater somewhat disappointed.