Okay I'm generalizing, but in so many cases, If you're looking for an intense film about relationships, French films trump American ones, because the French just seem inherently to be the experts when it comes to love and passion. French-Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche's intimate dissection of a romance between two young women is no exception. His film won the Palme d'Or, the top award at the Cannes Film Festival. This was the first time a director and two actresses collectively received the award—by a panel led by such film industry luminaries as Steven Spielberg, Nicole Kidman and director Ang Lee.
The film features a smashing performance by Adèle Exarchopoulos who has the same first name as the film's protagonist. When we first meet Adèle, she's a high school student confused about her sexual identity. She sees a young blue haired woman on the streets and has dreams about her. Prodded by her gossipy classmates, she has a brief, unsatisfactory relationship with a boy, but soon breaks up with him after an encounter with a female classmate, who first kisses her on the steps outside of the school. The female classmate tells her that she wasn't serious about the encounter but Adèle is taken to a gay bar by a male gay friend but she soon wanders off to a lesbian bar, where she meets the blue-haired woman she had seen out on the streets earlier.
The young blue-haired woman is Emma (played by an equally intense Léa Seydoux), an older art graduate student. They begin a steamy affair, culminating in a series of explicit sex scenes which has garnered quite a bit of publicity for the film. The second Act occurs after a passage of time—now Emma is trying to break into the art world as a professional artist and Adèle has begun a job as a kindergarten teacher. Director Kechiche pulls out all the stops in depicting the burgeoning romance between the two women.
The problem with much of it is that it's just too drawn out. That not only includes the sex scenes but other scenes such as when the each women meets one another's parents (Emma's upper middle class parents know that she's gay and are immediately accepting of Adèle; but Adèle's lower middle-class parents are left in the dark as to the nature of their relationship). Mr. Kechiche can't resist closeups of each character discussing how much they enjoy the pasta they're eating. Another earlier scene, where Emma and Adèle engage in a long intellectual discussion about Sartre and other sundry topics on a park bench, also seems to go on and on.
But I was grudgingly willing to put up with the incredibly drawn out spectacle to see what the final outcome of the relationship was between the two lovers. Before the final blowup, cracks in the facade of the relationship, begin to emerge. Adèle, working much more simply with children, begins to feel out of place in Emma's more sophisticated world of art professionals. Finally, with Emma spending more time in the art world, Adèle has a brief fling with a guy, a fellow male co- worker from her job at the school. . Emma finally figures out that Adèle has been cheating on her and she flips out. She throws Adèle out of her house and tells she never wants to see her again. I like how Emma was depicted in the scene where she dumps Adèle, as her lack of flexibility and unwillingness to forgive the vulnerable Adèle, showed her to be cold and overly controlling. In other words, there's a multi-dimensionality to the character.
The rest of the film I would say is anti-climactic. Some years pass and Adèle spends a good deal of time by herself, trying to get over her relationship with Emma, but not quite doing so. She finally meets with Emma after quite a bit of time has gone by, who ostensibly has forgiven her. Adèle attempts to force herself on Emma in a restaurant but Emma is now committed to another woman and rejects her. Flash forward again— Emma invites Adèle to her art exhibition, where Adèle finally accepts the fact that Emma has moved on. Her run in with the actor (who's now a real estate agent) doesn't seem to go anywhere.
'Blue' is a three hour movie but it probably could have been more effective with 45 minutes of less footage. I wonder if the sex scenes were pared down, the film would have garnered as much publicity as it did. The end of filming was not the end to the controversy. Not only did union members complain about director Kechiche over working them but Exarchopoulos and Seydoux indicated that they never wanted to work with Kechiche again as they indicated that he treated them roughly while shooting the film.. Seydoux went as far as saying that she felt like a "prostitute" during the film shoot. Kechiche was offended by his actors' comments and at one point was quoted as saying that he hoped the film would not be released. There was also talk that Kechiche was going to sue Seydoux for her comments.
Probably both parties overreacted. Exarchopoulos and Seydoux knew what kind of film they were getting into, when they signed the contract to act in it and they probably should have known Kechiche was a perfectionist. On the other hand, Kechiche perhaps should have taken into account his actors' sensibilities and directed them a little more gently.
All in all, 'Blue is the warmest color', is a well-made film which captures the intensity of the intense relationship between two young women, who ultimately were not right for each other. The film needed to flow better and the editing was just not there. If you're willing to put up with the film's overall length, you will still be rewarded with some phenomenal acting and intense dissection of a relationship that ran its course.
The film features a smashing performance by Adèle Exarchopoulos who has the same first name as the film's protagonist. When we first meet Adèle, she's a high school student confused about her sexual identity. She sees a young blue haired woman on the streets and has dreams about her. Prodded by her gossipy classmates, she has a brief, unsatisfactory relationship with a boy, but soon breaks up with him after an encounter with a female classmate, who first kisses her on the steps outside of the school. The female classmate tells her that she wasn't serious about the encounter but Adèle is taken to a gay bar by a male gay friend but she soon wanders off to a lesbian bar, where she meets the blue-haired woman she had seen out on the streets earlier.
The young blue-haired woman is Emma (played by an equally intense Léa Seydoux), an older art graduate student. They begin a steamy affair, culminating in a series of explicit sex scenes which has garnered quite a bit of publicity for the film. The second Act occurs after a passage of time—now Emma is trying to break into the art world as a professional artist and Adèle has begun a job as a kindergarten teacher. Director Kechiche pulls out all the stops in depicting the burgeoning romance between the two women.
The problem with much of it is that it's just too drawn out. That not only includes the sex scenes but other scenes such as when the each women meets one another's parents (Emma's upper middle class parents know that she's gay and are immediately accepting of Adèle; but Adèle's lower middle-class parents are left in the dark as to the nature of their relationship). Mr. Kechiche can't resist closeups of each character discussing how much they enjoy the pasta they're eating. Another earlier scene, where Emma and Adèle engage in a long intellectual discussion about Sartre and other sundry topics on a park bench, also seems to go on and on.
But I was grudgingly willing to put up with the incredibly drawn out spectacle to see what the final outcome of the relationship was between the two lovers. Before the final blowup, cracks in the facade of the relationship, begin to emerge. Adèle, working much more simply with children, begins to feel out of place in Emma's more sophisticated world of art professionals. Finally, with Emma spending more time in the art world, Adèle has a brief fling with a guy, a fellow male co- worker from her job at the school. . Emma finally figures out that Adèle has been cheating on her and she flips out. She throws Adèle out of her house and tells she never wants to see her again. I like how Emma was depicted in the scene where she dumps Adèle, as her lack of flexibility and unwillingness to forgive the vulnerable Adèle, showed her to be cold and overly controlling. In other words, there's a multi-dimensionality to the character.
The rest of the film I would say is anti-climactic. Some years pass and Adèle spends a good deal of time by herself, trying to get over her relationship with Emma, but not quite doing so. She finally meets with Emma after quite a bit of time has gone by, who ostensibly has forgiven her. Adèle attempts to force herself on Emma in a restaurant but Emma is now committed to another woman and rejects her. Flash forward again— Emma invites Adèle to her art exhibition, where Adèle finally accepts the fact that Emma has moved on. Her run in with the actor (who's now a real estate agent) doesn't seem to go anywhere.
'Blue' is a three hour movie but it probably could have been more effective with 45 minutes of less footage. I wonder if the sex scenes were pared down, the film would have garnered as much publicity as it did. The end of filming was not the end to the controversy. Not only did union members complain about director Kechiche over working them but Exarchopoulos and Seydoux indicated that they never wanted to work with Kechiche again as they indicated that he treated them roughly while shooting the film.. Seydoux went as far as saying that she felt like a "prostitute" during the film shoot. Kechiche was offended by his actors' comments and at one point was quoted as saying that he hoped the film would not be released. There was also talk that Kechiche was going to sue Seydoux for her comments.
Probably both parties overreacted. Exarchopoulos and Seydoux knew what kind of film they were getting into, when they signed the contract to act in it and they probably should have known Kechiche was a perfectionist. On the other hand, Kechiche perhaps should have taken into account his actors' sensibilities and directed them a little more gently.
All in all, 'Blue is the warmest color', is a well-made film which captures the intensity of the intense relationship between two young women, who ultimately were not right for each other. The film needed to flow better and the editing was just not there. If you're willing to put up with the film's overall length, you will still be rewarded with some phenomenal acting and intense dissection of a relationship that ran its course.