A portrayal of homosexuality like never before
Featured in IMDb Critic Reviews
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| Blue is the Warmest Color (2013) - By Abdellatif Kechiche |
IMDb Ratings: 8.1
Genre: Drama | Romance
Genre: Drama | Romance
Cast: Léa Seydoux, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechiouche
Country: France | Belgium | Spain
Language: French | English
Runtime: 179 min
Color: Color
Summary: Adele's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself and ultimately finds herself through love and loss.
Summary: Adele's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself and ultimately finds herself through love and loss.
This year’s Palme d’Or winner "Blue is the Warmest Color" made the
most noise on the box-office but perhaps for the wrong reasons. The film is loosely
based on Julie Maroh’s graphic novel "Le bleu est une couleur chaude" (Blue
Angel). The director of the film, Abdellatif Kechiche, claims that it was
really more of a combination of the graphic novel and a concept he had in mind.
In the graphic novel the characters were Clementine, a 15 year old girl
exploring her sexuality and Emma, a 4th year student of Fine Arts
who had already gone through a breakup in a lesbian relationship. Abdellatif, however, has replaced the name Clementine in his film with "Adèle", meaning "Justice" in
Arabic. According to the director it helped Adèle Exarchopoulos merge with the
character, and also the name’s light, ethereal nature appealed to him. At the
beginning of the film we see Adèle fall for a senior guy in High School but it changes
when she sees Emma.
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| Adèle Exarchopoulos as Adèle |
As the film progresses we see Adèle meet Emma at a gay bar and
thus starts the beginning of a new adventure. Blue is the Warmest Color is
probably the first film that has portrayed homosexuality in such a way. The
director doesn't play any tricks with us, he is just saying to us: "Watch, this
is the reality, there is no pretense". Kechiche takes the camera inside the
girls’ bedroom unhindered and shows us the reality and actuality of what
happens. Throughout the entire film the camera is fixed on Adèle's face, it’s
like the director is almost obsessed with that face. Kechiche describes in his
Cannes interview that he picked Adèle for the character the first time he saw
her in the audition. Kechiche says, "I had taken her for lunch at a brasserie.
She ordered lemon tart and when I saw the way she ate it I thought, 'It’s her!'"
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| Léa Seydoux as Emma in Blue is the Warmest Color |
The director tries to portray everything as natural as it is;
there are no make-up artists, no costume designers, or use of anything fancy. Adèle Exarchopoulos says that if the director saw someone with a nice coat or
jacket, he would say to give it to Adèle during the shooting.
Kechiche portrays the image of a free woman through Adèle who is
devastated but still strong, courageous and devoted to her aim. She works
flawlessly as a schoolteacher even while going through intense pain. The color "Blue" has been used rigorously by the director and it seems to pop up everywhere Adèle looks or anything that is involved with Adèle from Emma’s blue hair to
the blue water where Adèle tries to drown her tears.
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| A Still from Blue is the Warmest Color |
Blue is the Warmest Color is one of a kind, a love story like no
other. It’s about the emptiness you feel when you break-up, when you are all
alone, about very simple yet truest of feelings.
About Author -
Shiladitya Biswas is a computer engineer who loves to write in his spare time. He is very involved with art and literature. However, this is his first major attempt at film critique writing.
Readers, please feel free to share your opinion by leaving your comments. As always your feedback is highly appreciated!
Readers, please feel free to share your opinion by leaving your comments. As always your feedback is highly appreciated!
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Blue is the Warmest Color (2013)Trailer
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