Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)
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Blue Is the Warmest Colour Movie Review
Blue Is the Warmest Colour is a 2013 French romance film directed by Abdellatif Kechiche and starring Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos. It’s such a difficult film.
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“But I have infinite tenderness for you.
I always will. My whole life“
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It follows a teenager Adele who develops a relationship with an older girl, and the film then follows their relationship as it goes from infatuation to a full relationship to a messy break-up. There is a lot to talk about here, and I will try to transport my numerous thoughts about this complicated movie the best I could. These thoughts are uncomfortable and complicated because I would love to give this film the best rating possible, but I just couldn’t due to its frustrating flaws.
What I absolutely adored about it is the romance that develops between the two and their entire relationship as it felt immensely realistic and almost like seeing a real couple fall in love and then argue and break up. Through Adele and Emma, the film explores young love and incompatibility in a relationship. They are too different in their lifestyles and career choices for it to ever work, and in particular the age gap proved to be their biggest downfall.
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Adele is extremely young and thus impatient and very sexual, which of course makes her incompatible for a relationship partner. Emma is the opposite, so that’s why it never could have worked. I personally found the film to work as this powerful warning for people in similar relationships, and that third act is definitely the movie’s biggest strength how messy, raw, uncomfortable and ultimately heartbreaking it is. The emphasis on young love and first break-up and how extremely powerful those are is the film’s greatest asset.
I loved the two main characters. Others are all smaller bits and pieces in this greater puzzle, which mostly concerns these two fully fleshed out, wonderful characters who both felt so real and relatable in their own ways. Emma is great and quite likable, but it is Adele who is the heart and soul of the movie as we follow her coming out, her sexual awakening and her growing up in front of our eyes. This is such an amazing character journey for the ages.
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And the acting is so damn good. Lea Seydoux is fantastic as she always is, very believable as this more butch lesbian, and she sold her by now iconic looks and blue color, and her emotional sequences. But it is Adele Exarchopoulos who absolutely stole the show in what is an acting showcase of the decade. She had to act the infatuated bits, the uncomfortable ones, the happy scenes, the heartbroken moments, confusion, sadness and regret. This impressive emotional spectrum was beautifully emphasized through her facial expressions and an incredible power to truly emote. As a result, what she did here was nothing sort of miraculous in what is the acting performance of the decade.
But let’s talk about its flaws which are frustrating. Blue Is the Warmest Colour was made by a straight male director. I did find Abdellatif Kechiche’s overall direction strong and maybe this was all meant to be a marketing ploy which obviously worked like a charm. However, it’s obvious to me and to many people out there that this was such an extreme case of male gaze where the director fulfilled all his sexual fantasies, and that resulted in that uncomfortable sex scene.
I did appreciate the inclusion of so many different sex acts in it, and it felt like the most fulfilling lesbian sex out there. However, it did not need to be that long, and the length is the issue here. To me, that felt above all else as this very frustrating, almost unethical use of these talented actresses that led to the film feeling dangerously pornographic.
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Another issue is the bisexuality present in the film. I loved the cheating subplot and how difficult it is for partners to forgive cheating, that was so powerfully and emotionally showcased. But then again, it did not need to include a man, and simply that cliché of a lesbian cheating another lesbian with a man is horrendous and it needs to go away. The entire film would have hugely benefited from the inclusion of a lesbian writer and director, but that sadly did not happen.
The movie is also unrestrained and undisciplined in its editing and epic runtime. I did like the majority of the film’s scenes and most are essential to the plot, but some aren’t, especially the boring, pointless school scenes. But the dialogue is fantastic throughout; the picture is well filmed, stupendously acted and above all else hugely emotional. It remains a very good film to me, but frustratingly not great.
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Blue Is the Warmest Colour remains a very strong, impressive in some areas film, but the one that frustratingly did not achieve greatness. Where this film excels at is in its portrayal of young love and the first relationship and the first break-up as it truly gets how emotionally exhilarating and heartbreaking those are. Lea Seydoux killed it in such a great role, but what Adele Exarchopoulos did here is nothing short of spectacular. Adele’s journey is so powerful, and this extremely talented actress acted out her every scene brilliantly – uncomfortable feelings, sadness, infatuation, confusion, shame, heartbreak, regret and so on and so forth. She did it all, and delivered what is truly the performance of the decade. The film is highly emotional in its third act and thematically rich, but unfortunately Abdellatif Kechiche ruined the film and prevented it from reaching true greatness. He directed it through excessive male gaze which resulted in unnecessarily, uncomfortably long sex scenes and a frustratingly apparent objectification of his stars throughout. The editing and runtime were also in dire need of restraint and discipline.
