The Blue Room

Name: The Blue Room
Genre: Thriller, Crime
Released: October 3, 2014
Duration: 76 min
Rating: 73
Cast: Blutch, Laurent Poitrenaux, Léa Drucker, Mathieu Amalric, Mona Jaffart

2014

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 14 Ratings

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4.7

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4.7	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 14 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Sundance Selects | Release Date: October 3, 2014 | Not Rated

Starring: Blutch, Laurent Poitrenaux, Léa Drucker, Mathieu Amalric, Mona Jaffart, Paul Kramer, Serge Bozon, Stéphanie Cléau, Véronique Alain

Summary: A man and a woman, secretly in love, alone in a room. They desire each other, want each other, and even bite each other. In the afterglow, they share a few sweet nothings. At least the man seemed to believe they were nothing. Now under investigation by the police and the courts, Julien fails to find the words. “Life is different when oneA man and a woman, secretly in love, alone in a room. They desire each other, want each other, and even bite each other. In the afterglow, they share a few sweet nothings. At least the man seemed to believe they were nothing. Now under investigation by the police and the courts, Julien fails to find the words. “Life is different when one lives it and peels it off afterwards”. What happened? What is he accused of?… Expand

Director: Mathieu Amalric

Genre(s): Thriller, Crime

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 76 min

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Critic Reviews

Sheri Linden

Oct 9, 2014

What tantalizes is the way the story moves between their private passion and their public shame, the way then and now become synchronous. Amalric navigates the shifts with a lapidary precision. Read full review

Marc Savlov

Oct 22, 2014

The Blue Room is mesmerizing, psychologically complex, and, at the very end, viscerally devastating. They don’t make them like this much anymore, but they should. Read full review

IndieWire Boyd Van Hoeij

May 26, 2014

In telling his story, Amalric is greatly aided by his ace cinematographer, Christophe Beaucarne, whose images pick up on a great many tiny but telling details, as if life were a mosaic composed of an almost infinite number of parts that are all equally important for the bigger picture. Read full review

Joe Williams

Oct 23, 2014

Directed by and starring Mathieu Amalric, it’s a deceptively low-key riff on a Hitchcock whodunit. It’s both sexy and inscrutable, a cold-blooded puzzler to the very end. Read full review

Andrew O'Hehir

Oct 1, 2014

Amalric and cinematographer Christophe Beaucarne structure much of The Blue Room around Julien’s bewildered and increasingly disheveled face, as he tries (and fails) to understand the people around him. Read full review

Peter Keough

Oct 16, 2014

Though engrossing and aesthetically admirable, at times the humorless artiness verges on absurdity. It’s hard to take a film too seriously when plum jam and Bach’s “Chaconne” vie for equal cinematic significance. Read full review

Peter Rainer

Oct 3, 2014

Amalric throws in flashbacks and flash-forwards between bedroom and courthouse (yes, there’s a murder), and I was reminded again why I prefer my noirs in the hardboiled American style rather than tricked up with all this faux Alain Resnais-style filigree. Read full review

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User Reviews

GinaK

Oct 10, 2014

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,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.… Expand

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netflic

Oct 12, 2014

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, andThis 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.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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