A Very Blue Beard (Russian: Очень синяя борода) is a 1979 animated short for adults, a Black Comedy retelling of Bluebeard.
A detective in what was the movie's Present Day decides to investigate the case of Bluebeard. Suddenly, Bluebeard himself (seemingly) appears in front of him and tells him the story of his life and his wives Marianna, Lilianna and Vivianna. As it turns out, it unfolds very differently from Perrault's version; but it remains ambiguous if Bluebeard is telling the truth and if the detective really sees him at all, so all the tropes fitting the story proper come with a possible Unreliable Narrator caveat.
Tropes featured in the film:
- Ambiguous Situation: So much it can be called Ambiguous Situation: The Movie. We never really know if Bluebeard really appears to the detective and if Bluebeard is telling the truth about his wives.
- Ambiguously Human: Bluebeard seems to be human, except for the fact that a blue beard grows on his face whenever he's in a rage. However, all of his friends and his third wife Vivianna are Winged Humanoids, but it's never clarified if they stem from a different species.
- Anachronism Stew: From Bluebeard using a spear to hunt to Marianna mentioning Australia to the wives' clearly modern dresses, the film is a mishmash of different eras per Rule of Funny.
- Animated Shock Comedy: Downplayed in the eyes of a modern viewer, but as risqué as one could get in the USSR of 1979. Lilianna's examination of Bluebeard is Double Entendre-laden, and cries of pleasure are heard during Bluebeard and Vivianna's wedding night.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: The detective's wife is so jealous she tries to make her husband skip work and go back home to her.
- Domestic Abuse: Marianna and Lilianna, as well as the detective's own wife, are control freaks who make their husbands' lives a torture.
- The Fashionista: Marianna is absolutely obsessed with fashion. Bonus point if it's foreign: Bluebeard manages to convince her to keep their dog by telling her he has seen an Englishwoman who owned dogs.
- Hope Spot: Vivianna is delighted to marry Bluebeard, is loving to him and kind to his dog, and throws a lavish feast (which is a particularly welcome change after her predecessor). However, it's soon clear she is a cheater.
- Micro Dieting: Lilianna forbids Bluebeard to eat almost anything, at one point snatching an apple away from him.
- My Biological Clock Is Ticking: Bluebeard desperately longs for a wife and children as he gets past thirty.
- Non-Human Sidekick:
- Bluebeard has a loyal talking dog, who is rather skeptical of Bluebeard's plan to get married.
- Marianna has a pet dragon. When Bluebeard has had enough of her Control Freak behavior, he provoked the dragon into burning her.
- Polyamory: Vivianna claims to genuinely love Bluebeard... as well as his friends and everyone in the world. However, she neglected to bring it up before marrying Bluebeard, and although she sings about her life philosophy after their marriage, it doesn't sink in for him until he catches her with a lover.
- Posthumous Narration: Bluebeard, according to his own narration, is killed by Vivianna's lover, so unless he is lying (or the detective is hallucinating the whole thing), he fits the trope.
- Red Herring: Bluebeard very ceremonially gives Marianna his keys, which can lead one to suspect the keys would play a big part here like in Perrault's fairytale. However, the keys have nothing to do with the plot at all.
- Rule of Three: Bluebeard marries three times.
