"Blue is the Warmest Color" (2013)

Controversy has been both a blessing and a curse for Blue is the Warmest Color, keeping the film in the public spot light but also distracting from the film's real strengths. Did director Abdellatif Kechiche push his two leads too far? Is the film's infamous ten minute sex scene too explicit? These are interesting questions but they're not nearly as important as some have made them out to be. Blue is the Warmest Color is primarily interested in the intense, fiery passions of first love and the bitter embers of love faded away, and Keniche gets Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux to commit to the film's riveting sense of intimacy and ecstasy. Furthermore, I wonder if we would even be having these conversations if these two character, Adele and Emma, were a man and a woman rather than two females. Yes, this is a film about lesbian lovers but much of what occurs could happen to any sexual and gender variation, and that's exactly the point. The story is specific to to these two unique, interesting individuals and non-hetero romance, but it's also universally true in the themes it explores and questions it poses. The sex scene has been called pornographic, which is false; it's explicit, but frankly, those who have used "pornographic" as a descriptor have either never seen porn or are uncomfortable with seeing such honest and raw homosexual sexual experiences. Keniche's camera trains itself to never blink at anything it puts its eye towards observing. In its observations, Keniche captures the rhythms of various environments (schools, bars), events (rallies, parties) and relationships. Adele (Earchopoulos) starts out as a senior in high school, and Keniche explores her interests and her boredom, her desire to escape. The beats of school life are accurate, especially the gossip and the awkward romances. Keniche gets right the sliding scale of bi-sexuality. Adele is stuck in expected heternormativity, and is interested in men but finds herself drawn more to woman. She spots Emma (Seydoux) from afar and is immediately drawn to her. She's confused about her real feelings, and she knows her infatuation from afar is somewhat strange. But then her infatuation is reciprocated: Emma is endeared to it. They tentatively get to know one another, and falls into the throes of passion of love at first sight. Their relationship is beautiful because it feels real, and Keniche proceeds past the early bliss of the relationship to discover the fading passions of a relationship that no longer has the immediacy of initial love. When Keniche points out the differences between Adele and Emma that make them incompatible as much as what binds them makes them right for eachother, it's painful but earnest. Ultimately though, this is Adele's story (the original French title was The Life of Adele), and most of the film is close ups of Exarchopoulos' face. Exarchopoulos has an wonderful face. It's normal and plain yet interesting and unique. It's a face that earns the right to be looked at for nearly the majority of the three hour run time, as Exarchopoulos makes us care about everything that takes place, no matter how seemingly trivial. It is Adele's story though in ways beyond the romance. We see her come into her own, and grow into an adult. We witness her start up a career as a teacher and move out on her own. Her time with Emma is simply the first of many lessons about the harsh realities of life and adulthood.

Grade: ★★★★