Blue Is The Warmest Color (Review)
To say I decided to finally check BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR off my list for any other reason than the one you’d expect from a 22 year-old male watching a movie about French lesbian lovers would be a lie. So I won’t. But though that reason was certainly the one that piqued my interest, it was not the one that grabbed my attention. What pulled me close and held me there was the patience of the storytelling, the intimacy of the cinematography, the delicacy of the character construction, the authenticity of the romance, and the intricacies of the performances.
Abdellatif Kechiche’s film, the story of a 15 year-old girl discovering love–discovering herself– is engaging because it doesn’t cut corners. Adele’s (the aforementioned 15 year-old girl) journey from her first decision to act on her feelings for boys, the development of her curiosity in girls, and the exploration of both, is slow, measured, and feels real. Adele Exochapolous’ performance as Adele truly captures the nervous energy and intoxication of teenage romance in a way I’ve never quite seen before. Her tremendous capacity for non-verbal expression carries her character throughout the film. Something as simple as a shift in her gaze communicates so much of what’s going on behind her eyes. Even in silence, she is anxious, eager to please, uncomfortable, excited, fascinated, and most of all: in love.
And that love develops carefully. Her ultimate love interest (Lea Seydoux as Emma) shows up only twice in the first forty minutes or so. Her first appearance is extremely brief, but effectively plants the seed of Adele’s attraction, and that seed is given ample time to grow. Many directors would have the two young lovers wrestling each other’s clothes off before the first hour is complete, with Emma whisking Adele away into a crowd-pleasing lesbian pleasure-dome, but Kechiche allows the two to become truly attached at an authentically human pace. Because though you can see the adoration and desire in Adele’s eyes from early on, the film is careful to remember that this is her first sensual experience with a woman–aside from a bewildering kiss or two. By the time they take to the bedroom, you believe that Adele is truly ready, that the older, more experienced Emma didn’t take advantage of Adele’s youth, eagerness, and naivete,
The oft-discussed sex scenes in (again, the film’s selling point,as far as I’m concerned, though I suspect others would agree) are sweaty, breathy, and unhurried. Simultaneously, aggressive and tender. These scenes weren’t shot as male-gaze-wish-fulfillment, but shot with respect for the give and take of carnality. The two leads tugged at, squeezed, and caressed each other. They gasped in anticipation, and collapsed flat on the mattress in ecstasy. While not at all short, neither were they gratuitous. Though I’ve never witnessed an actual bout of lesbian sex, I was able to recognize a sincerity in the lovemaking: the exploration of a partner’s body, and the desire to satisfy.
When I think of the way the visual composition of the film, intimacy is the word that comes to mind. Most of the shots were filmed high and tight, showing shoulders and above, and not much background. A film shot mostly in closeups runs the risk of overusing the technique, but this film finds real use for it. The camerawork communicates something about passionate love: the desire–the need–to be close to one another. During a scene where Adele and Emma share a park bench, you aren’t watching it as a fly on the wall, an outsider looking in, but through the eyes of the two lovers. The personal nature of the cinematography reveals the subtleties of the performances: Emma’s delight and amusement as seen through her smirks, the uneasiness,embarrassment, and bashfulness on Adele’s face as her gaze false away. Seeing the characters from just a foot away shows the audience how they bond together, and allows us to bond with them, as individuals, and as a couple.
I’d have seen BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR sooner, but I felt the the need to prepare myself. The just-a-hair-shy-of-three-hour runtime intimidated me, I’ll admit, but in the end, I was truly impressed with how the time was filled. I’ve seen very few films justify their length the way this one did. The narrative was never rushed, it progressed slowly, but deliberately, and not in the way I expected. Just when I thought I knew what a character would say, they’d say something else. When I believed they’d react in anger, they’d chuckle instead. It kept me on my toes, but not in a cheap way. This is not the film I thought it would be. It’s no feel-good, coming of-age story. It is, however, a deeply authentic (there goes that word again),honest, and entrancing look at what happens when a person lets their heart take over.
