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By Brian Lafferty
November 14, 2013 (San Diego) – Every time a stream of adjectives flows into my mind when describing Blue Is the Warmest Color, “unique” invariably pops up. That assessment, however, is wrong. It’s unique only in the sense that the lovers are of the same sex. Nobody would say so if the characters were a boy and a girl. Adèle and Emma love each other, make love to each other, live with each other, and eventually break up with each other. Just as a normal heterosexual couple would. In that sense, and as a result of over a century of movie conditioning, it would be viewed as a “normal” relationship.
Adèle (Adèle Exharchopoulos) is a gawky – a trait accentuated by a profuse amount of extreme close-ups – high school girl growing aware of her budding sexuality, but finds herself more attracted to girls than guys when she catches a glimpse of Emma (Léa Seydoux), a young woman with blue hair. This is confirmed when her first sexual experience with a boy leaves her unfulfilled. By chance, Adèle meets Emma at a gay bar. They fall in love, and from that a lasting relationship blooms. Their relationship comes to a stop when a jealous Adèle, frustrated with Emma spending too much one-on-one time with a mutual ladyfriend, has an affair with a man. Adèle tries desperately to salvage it, but the damage looks irreversible.
Any person who has ever had feelings for another person knows you can’t help you you’re attracted to. One reason why some people refuse to accept gay marriage and gay rights is because they think being gay is a choice. This is not true. People are born that way, and even a cursory Google search will show lots of scientific studies and evidence proving so. Same sex attraction is no different than that of a boy having a crush on a girl. I’ve never known anybody “choose” to be gay or lesbian. I’ve also never encountered anybody “choosing” to be straight, either.
Adèle’s unsatisfying sexual encounters with men subtly, but superbly, demonstrate this point. Her first time with a male peer is awkward. Her lover certainly gets much out of it. Adèle, however, doesn’t. As he makes love to her, she looks off into the distance, as if she’s waiting for Emma to come through the door and take her away.
Space does not permit me to debate the merits of the NC-17 rating assigned to Blue, but the rationale must have lay in the extended love scene between Adèle and Emma. I saw Blue at a press and promo screening. Almost half of the theater was occupied by non-press. At first I was apprehensive about it, but now I’m in some ways thankful I saw the movie in the company of average moviegoers. If the gaspy, giggly reactions of a number of the people behind me are any indication, I think many will be unprepared for the lesbian sex scenes. I can’t describe it because East County Magazine is a family publication. I can say that it will make certain people uncomfortable. One reason is because American audiences have been accustomed to watching heterosexual sex scenes like those in Basic Instinct ever since the Production Code’s demise in 1967. I could sense that some people didn’t know how to react to something perhaps new or foreign to them. Another reason is because unlike many sex scenes, even heterosexual ones, it is raw and unpolished, consistent with its cinema verite style.
Blue Is the Warmest Color is one of 2013’s very best. Its 3-hour running time and it being subtitled is certain to put off prospective moviegoers. I rarely feel the need to urge readers to see a film, but this film warrants an exception. It’s as timely as it is powerful. At a time when the fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights is gaining momentum in the United States, Blue portrays with heart and brutal honesty a relationship that many people aren’t accustomed to seeing but should.
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Blue Is the Warmest Color is now playing at the Landmark Hillcrest.
A Magnolia Pictures release. Director: Abdellatif Kechiche. Screenplay: Abdellatif Kechiche and Ghalia Lacroix, based on the comic book by Julie Maroh. Cinematography: Sofian El Fani. Cast: Lea Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos. Running time: 179 minutes. Rated NC-17.
Brian Lafferty is an award-winning film critic and assistant editor currently living in San Diego and graduated with a B.A. in Radio-TV-Film from California State University, Fullerton. In 2013, he won a San Diego Press Club Award for his film criticism, taking third place for his review of Before Midnight. He welcomes letters at brian@eastcountymagazine.org. You can also follow him on Twitter: @BrianLaff.
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