One might pass over Blue Is The Warmest Color since when a film is this hyped and controversial, some have the tendency to run the other way. That would be a big mistake.
Unprecedented was the film winning the prestigious Palme D’or at Cannes not only for its director, Abdellatif Kechiche but also its two lead actresses, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux. The Cannes jury, headed by Steven Spielberg, was not engaging in an overreach of veneration: the performances are indeed that remarkable.
The film’s emotional wallop is undeniable. Its portrayal of sexual awakening, physical desire and attraction, attachment and dependency, and the heartbreak of loss, feels to be taking place on an almost cellular level. Its candid revelations of subtle and not so subtle class and intellectual differences, come from an organic perch far removed from preachy dogma. Then there are what feel like interminable scenes of the teacher Adele (the actress has the same first name in the film) interacting with her kindergarten and first grade students. The idea is to give the sense of her everyday life: mainly its solitude compared to her wondrous relationship with Emma (Seydoux), and also to reveal her more pedestrian lifestyle compared to Emma’s existence as a painter and graphic artist. It’s very tempting to say the film would have worked much better if it were far shorter than its three-hour running time.
As is, though, Blue is The Warmest Color has a permeating effect of bringing across the indelible feelings of its two main characters in no-holds-barred, in-your-face, torrid vignettes of what seem like an emotional roller coaster ride. The little moments of life and love take on a new immediacy. Interactions between the two women are playful and real, then non-verbally redolent of an understood mutual affection, then passionately but always tenderly adversarial as things evolve to another stage. Adele goes from the 15-year-old who opens the film to a woman several years older, possibly wiser, infinitely sadder. The then-18-year-old Exarchopoulos puts on a symphony of visual acting that won’t be soon forgotten. Matching her every step of the way is Seydoux (2012’s very good Sister, Midnight In Paris, Mission: Impossible–Ghost Protocol), whose casual/aloof yet feeling/loving character is essential to all this working.
Oh yeah, there are two rather long sex scenes between the two women in case you haven’t heard. They are very much an essential part of the thread of the film. You may have also heard a criticism voiced that Kechiche was in it for the voyeuristic thrill. You be the judge. To my way of thinking, if that we’re the case we wouldn’t be talking about Exarchopoulos in the same breath as French actress Sandrine Bonnaire, whose legendary performances in A Nos Amours and Vagabond 30 years ago defined the exasperated young woman in search of meaning. Accusing the film of pandering to a prurient interest likely means you missed its not inconsiderable essence.
4.5 Great Performances, Including Sex (out of 5 stars)