If you happen to be in NYC or anywhere near Montclair over Thanksgiving break I would highly recommend seeing Blue is the Warmest Color. Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, the film presents a story about a young woman, Adele. The simple French title, which translates to “The life of Adele: chapters one and two” better describes the film than its vague English translation. I think many have written it off as an exaggerated, lesbian love story as most of the press surrounding the film has expressed shock at its explicit sex scenes. Many people who would enjoy the film haven’t ventured to see it because they think it will be as basic as a porno. While some scenes are pornographic, there is so much more to this film than a ten-minute scissoring session.
We first meet Adele (Adele Exarchopoulos) as a junior in high school studying French literature. The camera focuses intimately on Adele as she greets her friends, sleeps with her mouth wide open, and voraciously eats her spaghetti Bolognese, proving within the first twenty minutes of the movie we are going to get to know her on a pretty personal level. Her physical characteristics, her incessantly messy hair, dimpled cheeks, and hazel eyes become ingrained in our thoughts.
The visceral physicality of Adele is contrasted with emotional Emma (Léa Seydoux), an artist much older than Adele, who openly expresses her love for art and philosophy and everything cultural. As their relationship blossoms their contradictory personalities continue to emerge. Adele prefers to keep her sexuality a secret while Emma uses it to define her artwork and therefore her livelihood. Adele doesn’t wish to expand her mind beyond her knowledge of Picasso while Emma is constantly in search of new inspiration. The film uses its opposing characters to question what is most important in a relationship, the physical or the emotional? Is it possible to have a balance of the two? Is cheating emotionally by flirting with others just as damaging as cheating physically? The film offers interesting insight into all of these questions.
My one complaint about the movie would be its self-indulgent director. No one expects his or her audience to sit for over two hours without being a little self-indulgent (see Lars Von Trier, Quentin Tarintino, Paul Thomas Anderson). Sometimes the movie felt like a love story between director Abdellatif Kechiche and Adele Exarchopoulos’ ass (an arguably nice one). Even so, the performances of 19-year-old Exarchopoulos and refined Seydoux save the film from the pitfalls of its occasional selfish direction. Both actresses received the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival for their exceptional acting, which marks it as the first film where both leading actresses and the director have received this honor.
Blue is the Warmest Color isn’t just about a young woman’s sexual awakening. It isn’t just another coming of age story or an “unconventional love story” for that matter. It certainly isn’t a story focused on the difficulty of being gay. It’s a story about a young woman. A woman who contradicts herself, makes mistakes, and tries desperately to form and then stay true to her morals. It’s the first two chapters of “La Vie d’Adele.”
If nothing in my article has convinced you to see the film I have one last thing to say. Watching this film forces you to share some unique moments with the strangers around you. Just imagine the awkward throat clearings and strange facial expressions.
Yup, they were that good.
Gioia Kennedy