Tea (?) set in "Bleu"

[Dogma_i]

Here's an interesting montage from the first film in Krzysztof Kieślowski's "Three Colors" trilogy:

Bleu2b.jpg (28.38 KiB) Viewed 1004 times

Sorry about the quality; it's blown up from one small part of an already-compressed frame. On the right are bottles of liquor and a bowl of fruit. On the open box at left (a backgammon set?) are a Western-style cup and saucer, what looks like a two-piece gaiwan, and another object that might be a sugar dispenser.

Can someone here with a better knowledge of 1990s Parisian culture explain the montage?

Thanks-

DM

[Victoria]

Interesting that there would be a gaiwan there.

[Mr. Usaji]

I don't know anything about 1990s Parisian culture but that is a great movie. A great series; actually Red is my favorite.

[brandon]

I've spent all of a few hours in Paris (explored during an extra long layover), and easily spotted several stores selling pretty decent puerh.

France is also tied with Canada for 2nd highest readership on my blog. Some of our favorite vendors and TeaChatters over the years have hailed from France (who's seen Olivier?).

I have strong anecdotal evidence for per-capita Chinese tea lovin' in Paris being a lot higher than the USA.

[Mr. Usaji]

I have strong anecdotal evidence for per-capita Chinese tea lovin' in Paris being a lot higher than the USA.

I'm not really surprised, given how much the French care about food. I notice that Xiaguan tuo cha boxes are often labeled in French (that is if they're labeled in anything besides Chinese).

Actually, I have seen sugar bowls for English-style tea drinking that look strangely like gaiwans. At least I think they're for sugar, but as an American I don't really know how English tea works. I hope it's a gaiwan though.

[Dogma_i]

I notice that Xiaguan tuo cha boxes are often labeled in French (that is if they're labeled in anything besides Chinese).

Interesting - with no evidence either way, I had imagined that they were intended for French-speaking former colonies to the south.

-DM

[MarshalN]

I notice that Xiaguan tuo cha boxes are often labeled in French (that is if they're labeled in anything besides Chinese).

Interesting - with no evidence either way, I had imagined that they were intended for French-speaking former colonies to the south.

-DM

Actually -- those were definitely meant for French export. Most of those tuos came from the 80s and 90s - Frecnh ex-colonies had their own languages to use (like Vietnamese) and French would be the last kind of language you'd see on the packaging, mostly because of anti-colonialism.

[TomVerlain]

Can someone here with a better knowledge of 1990s Parisian culture explain the montage?

And, um, interesting rhythmic devices which
seemed to counterpoint the surrealism of
the underlying metaphor of the humanity...