The extraordinary Cannes Palm D’Or-winning French film “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” about a teenage lesbian’s coming of age, opens Nov. 1 at Ritz Theatres. The three-hour romantic drama has become famous for its lengthy, explicit sex scenes, but this powerful film should be celebrated more for Adèle Exarchopoulos’ phenomenal performance in the lead role. The actor gives an incredibly nuanced portrait of a young woman finding her way in the world, and finding herself in the process.
Adèle is a high-school student who is studying literature in the film’s early scenes. The pupils talk about “something missing” for the character they are reading about, and the same can be said of Adèle. Although she flirts with — and eventually has sex with — Thomas (Jérémie Laheurte), a student in her class, she feels like she is faking things with him. Adèle secretly knows this to be true because when she spies the blue-haired Emma (Léa Seydoux) on the street, she is intrigued and distracted. She later masturbates and fantasizes about this stranger.
“Blue Is the Warmest Color” gets into Adèle’s head throughout the film, and director and co-writer Abdellatif Kechiche shoots his protagonist often in close-up to emphasize this. Shots of Adèle sleeping, eating, watching a movie, smoking a cigarette and crying (which she does easily) reveal much about her character. Exarchopoulos does a remarkable job conveying expressions that belie Adèle’s complex emotions.
Her angst is palpable. When a fellow student kisses her, it legitimizes Adèle’s same-sex desires. While that relationship goes nowhere, it awakens Adèle’s desire to visit a gay club with her friend Valentin (Sandor Funtek). It is in a lesbian bar that Adèle finally meets Emma Seydoux, an artist, and the pair hit it off. They bond further when Emma sketches Adèle — a possible muse — and before long, they develop an intense relationship. An intimate picnic the girls share leads to one of the erotic sex scenes.
“Blue Is the Warmest Color” hits its stride in its second hour, when Adèle’s relationship with Emma takes over the narrative. While Adèle’s high-school friends grill her about her mysterious new friend, the film avoids a coming-out scene, and instead portrays the interesting responses Adèle’s peers have to her lies as well as Adèle’s reactions to being called a lesbian. Likewise, as the young lovers each meet the other’s parents, Adèle never quite reveals the extent of her relationship with Emma to her own folks. Moreover, there is no drama about the girls being “caught” in bed, or any other obvious moments that would unbalance this delicate romance.
In fact, that some of the typically big dramatic moments happen off-screen (or not at all) benefits the film. “Blue Is the Warmest Color” is absorbing because viewers are keyed into Adèle’s world and how she navigates it. When she lies, makes mistakes or reaches under her bed for her stash of candy to comfort her following an emotional moment, the audience can sympathize with her — or choose not to.
Part of what makes Exarchopoulos’ performance so enthralling is that the actor is not afraid to show Adèle at her most vulnerable. The extensive sex and nude scenes certainly illustrate her bravery, but her crying scenes are long, messy sequences, and her heated exchanges with her high-school friends, or Emma when the lovers fight, are painful and hyper-realistic.
As viewers share the emotional rollercoaster of Adèle’s life, they will become enthralled by it. However, the film is quite long and could stand some minor editing. A series of extended scenes in the last third depict Adèle realizing her dream to be a teacher; while these show the maturation of the character, watching her teaching various classes does little to advance the plot.
That said, “Blue Is the Warmest Color” culminates in a scene in a restaurant between Adèle and Emma that is one of the most astonishing sequences in any film this year. It is best not to explain more about it or the way the lovers’ relationship unfolds — as that provides much of the magic of this film — but their romance does emphasize the old adage that whoever has the least interest in the relationship controls it.
“Blue Is the Warmest Color” pivots on the way Adèle navigates her first same-sex relationship, and Kechiche handles it especially well. His actors, who give accomplished performances, aid his goal immensely.
This is a film that should not be missed.