'Blue Is the Warmest Colour': The line between realism and pornography

In 2013, Blue Is the Warmest Colour was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where it unanimously won the ‘Palme d’Or’, and was the first film to have this title awarded to both its director, Abdellatif Kechiche, and two leading actresses. Despite initial praise, when premiered in North America, the film attracted controversy surrounding its explicit sexual nature, with attention on a sex scene that lasts around seven minutes; the critic Manohla Dargis stated that it “feels far more about Mr. Kechiche’s desires than anything else”. Following the film’s success, both leading actresses Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux addressed Kechiche’s ruthless working hours and difficult behaviour during filming which adds credibility to the critical opinion that his work was driven by desire rather than artistic vision. Despite Kechiche’s intentions behind the sexual content, it can be argued that Blue Is the Warmest Colour’s sex scenes are a comment on realism rather than a patriarchal pornographic depiction.

The three-hour long film based on a graphic novel by Julie Maroh, follows the character Adele (Exarchopoulos) from her school days to adulthood as she traverses her transgressive sexual emotions. In her final year at school, she meets Emma (Lea Seydoux), an older art student, who she starts a passionate sexual relationship with. The two have a house together, where Adele, now a teacher, becomes the muse for the growing artist, Emma. Through a series of events, the two separate explosively, and the film continues to follow Adele for three years. Finally, the two meet again but their relationship has eroded. Adele attends Emma’s art show, in a symbolic blue dress, but turns around and walks out. Their relationship is intense, raw and beautiful and this is achieved through various means, with their sexual intimacy being foundational in communicating the emotional journey of sexuality.

Realism is a distinctive feature of Blue Is the Warmest Colour; Kechiche’s choice to have no music throughout the entire film (excluding music that is background noise to the natural scene), adds a definite ‘awkwardness’ of daily life. For example, when introduced to Adele’s family eating dinner and watching television, their silences and avoidance of one another involve the audience and foreshadow their complex relationship to come. The scene seems to last a little too long and becomes slightly uncomfortable: a theme of Kechiche’s editing choices. Similarly, at various points in the movie it can be assumed the actors are improvising – when Adele and Emma invite their friends for dinner, Adele speaks to a friend and a bug lands on his face, which she swats away and then continues her conversation with him. When Adele is seen crying, especially following Emma’s anger at her adultery, Kechiche includes Adele’s nose running. These scenes are not aesthetic and sometimes the realism of shaking camera angles does distract from the cinematography, but Kechiche builds in the relationship of the viewer with the characters by making it as personal as possible. Critic Charles Taylor comments that "Instead of fencing its young lovers within a petting zoo... Kechiche removes the barriers that separate us from them. He brings the camera so close to the faces of his actresses that he seems to be trying to make their flesh more familiar to us than his own.” Up close shots are a characteristic of this movie, especially when the characters themselves are close. Before Adele and Emma’s first kiss, as they become physically closer, the shots also focus on the minute facial movements. It would be feasible to suggest that the main point of this film is an exploration of personal intimacy and relationships realistically.

Adele is seen to have two sexual relationships, despite her confession of sleeping with a colleague later in the film. Kechiche’s decision to not include Adele’s third sexual partner is logical. Adele keeps this relationship as a secret from Emma, and represses the truth of it within herself; thus, Kechiche’s choice to not include this relationship is symbolic in revealing the lack of worth and intimacy compared to Emma and Adele’s intense sexual relationship. Additionally, the sexual scenes are extensive and bookend almost every wholesome scene of Emma and Adele at the beginning of the film. As their relationship evolves and the blue dye symbolically fades from Emma’s hair, their sex scenes completely deteriorate, along with their intimacy generally. This can be argued to be a realistic exploration of the role of sex in relationships, where other films do not venture for the fear of being marked as ‘pornographic’. Perhaps there is something to say, however, for the depiction of lesbian sex in the film. The characters frequently move positions and are sexually adventurous which might take away from the intimacy of the two characters and instead could be viewed as ‘for the patriarchal male gaze’. However, the sex scenes also have a real focus on facial features and the movement of the body. These scenes are long and awkward to watch, but it can be argued that in a passionate relationship such as the one depicted, this is a realistic representation of sex: experimental, awkward and personal.

Blue Is the Warmest Colour’s inclusion of sexual intimacy is a widely debated critical choice in terms of its addition or retraction to the film. As the film is already a comment on realism and the emotional complexities of sexuality and relationships, arguably the extensive sexual nature adds a whole dimension to the film. Without this, the film would be much less passionate, and the characters perhaps more two-dimensional. A male filmmaker directing this complex lesbian relationship may be one of the reasons that the LGBTQIA+ community has found difficulty with the practical portrayal of sex in the film. Despite this, it is evident that without the sexual relationship between Adele and Emma, their intimacy would be less personal and intense to the viewer. These scenes add both realism and passion to this cinematically and symbolically beautiful film.