Among its many compartments and qualities and the various controversies and conversations it has inspired, Blue Is the Warmest Color is a rousing testament to detail and time in cinema. A three-hour coming-of-age love story sounds daunting. After all, The 400 Blows set the coming-of-age-film standard in around an hour and a half. Tunisian born French director Abdellatif Kechiche (The Secret Life of the Grain) has a vision and a blueprint, though, and it involves an intense level of immersion in the life of heroine Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos), a riveting character the audience observes as she finishes secondary school and then trains to become a teacher herself while also discovering and exploring her sexuality, largely through a relationship with a slightly older painter, Emma (Léa Seydoux).

Through extended scenes and intimate shot compositions, the rhythm of every part of Adèle's life is revealed to the audience, from the public space of the schoolyards where she studies and teaches to the domestic sphere, including the bedroom. Observational in nature and shot through with intelligent empathy, the film almost captures within its three hours the cumulative impact of Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight: there is a sense of time elapsed, of the in-the-moment creation of dreams and regrets as arcs of desire and heartache unfold, and of the wall separating the audience from the characters' hearts and minds crashing down with each subsequent scene. Any number of adjectives could be used to describe the experience. In certain respects, it may be exhausting, yet it is also enriching and magical, and so much credit must go to the two female stars, who exhibit vast courage and not even a second's flash of artifice. I will not denigrate their unique shared achievement by describing it as Oscar worthy. The Academy should prove itself worthy of them.

As for the now infamous scenes of lesbian sexuality, they are indeed more explicit than most mainstream leaning art-house films, but they are not in any way pornographic because they are concerned with depicting the transformative pleasure experienced by Adèle in bed with Emma (particularly in contrast to an unsatisfying heterosexual encounter early in the film), not simply arousing the spectator. Could these particular scenes be shorter? Are there moments in which the director's serious contemplation of the sex act gives way to a sentimental, Peter Paul Rubens style male gaze? Perhaps, perhaps not. I am not comfortable saying the critics who have voiced such concerns, female or otherwise, are "wrong," but I for one believe the sexual content present serves a clear purpose and further intensifies the film's overall beauty and honesty.

A

Lol, sorry, man, but even though I do not necessarily disagree on what you are trying to convey, that is a pretentious statement if there ever was one.

No, it is spot-on. They give astounding performances, but everyone, myself included, is trained to say, "Oh, but can IFC get the Academy to give this film chance? Is it too salty for the poor old darlings?" When, in fact, they should rise to the occasion, recognize the film's complicated and glowing reception, and see it for themselves as people who are purportedly the cream of the cinematic crop.

Yeah, but your phrasing is pretentious. I will rest my case here because I do not have the desire to explain it, but to state my impression.This isn't in disagreement with your sentiments, but rather with the "OMG, this is too good for this world to comprehend, we're not worthy"-expression of them

But, yeah, I'll rest my case.

You are reading too much into what I wrote. As I typed my thoughts, I started to write how award worthy both performances are, but perhaps the film is too graphic or too much of an outlier for them to receive recognition. But then I figured screw the Academy. They should not be catered to. There should be an onus on them to give this film and other unusual-by-their-standard titles a chance. And the "worthy of them" line is just intended as a play on the way so many films and performances around this time of year are praised as Oscar worthy, a relatively trite description I myself no doubt use too often.

Saw it yesterday. Adèle Exarchopoulos is a revelation. Will post more later, but I'd give it an A as well.

Least surprising grade since Algren saw The Expendables

It was possible for me to be disappointed by it though . Thankfully I wasn't.

Will be seeing this on the 25th. Very excited.

I honestly thought 12 Years a Slave would be my favorite film of the year after seeing it last week but Blue is the Warmest Color has outdone it. This is the easiest three-hour film to get through for so many reasons. Yes, it is a very dialogue heavy movie but each huge block of dialogue is just as gripping as the next even if they have to deal with very minor subjects (example being the bus conversation which consisted merely of Adele's view on music). The transition of Adele's life from high school to adulthood flows vary naturally without feeling choppy. The reservations Adele keeps about her sexuality is one of the film's stronger themes as the film doesn't allow those reservations to bring about cliche scenes such as a discerning coming out scene to her parents. It's a different perspective on the subject which I enjoyed.

When Adele and Emma are together, the film is obviously at its best but the interactions with other side characters and Adele hold just as much momentum in making the film as great as it is. But with Adele and Emma together, they are able to convey off each other all sorts of emotions which even hit me in a similar fashion. The sex scenes, while nice to look at, only fuel these emotions more and help aid the film with its themes rather than serve as a useless sidenote just to pull viewers in for controversy sake. This is one of the only films this year which really has my head still wrapped around these characters, even a full 24 hours after the film has ended. I wish more time could be spent with these characters despite the numerous time we've already spent with them as an audience. I do wonder how the extra 40 minutes cut add in to the whole production.

Lea Seydoux shines here and I was surprised she actually wasn't in the film a bit more. The true star here though is obviously Adele Exarchopoulos. She not only gives the best female performance this year but the best female performance I have seen in the past few years. Her delivery of dialogue as well as just her expressions felt very natural or would have been seen by someone in the movie business much longer than her. She needs to be nominated for Best Actress and should win though that won't happen sadly (I haven't seen Blue Jasmine yet, but I highly doubt Blanchett can outdo Exarchopoulos in my opinion).

This film is a true beauty to watch both behind the camera and in front of it. It's the best foreign language film I've seen since The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (and may be better). This isn't a film which will necessarily define the lesbian lifestyle, it's more or less a great coming-of-age and love story which just happens to have lesbians at the forefront. It's a film I hope continues to hold on to its limited success here in the States.

Oh and I forgot to mention that Adele Exarchopoulos is very hot.

Magnus is stocking up on hand lotion.

That's overinterpretation.

It won't be that guy, but it'll be someone else. That's the thing with first love. It often doesn't end well, but your life doesn't end there. This is why the film's original title (Life of Adèle: Chapters I and II) is so fitting. Those are just two chapters of her life. There will be more. There will be more ups and more downs. Like with everyone else.

BTW, I liked how he clash of classes was conveyed by eating oysters vs. spaghetti.

The sex scenes are important in a way that they show why Adèle and Emma actually stay this long together. The biggest thing they have is the huge attraction they feel for one another. Physical attraction.

But then you get to the point where you've gotta ask: does a 10-minute sex scene convey that more than a 3-minute sex scene. And coupled with the fact that you're dealing with a male heterosexual director here...I don't know, it does feel a tiny bit weird. I am sure Kechiche has done a fair amount of "research" on Pornhub and the like.

And by many other things, but I really liked the touch with the food.My gilfriend is French and I spend several weeks each year in France, so there were lots of little bits about class differences that I found amusing.

And I assume the ending being a downer depends on your own outlook in these things. Adèle is a smart, young, good-looking girl, who's probably in her mid-twenties by the end of the film. If you think that one relationship ending badly and not given another shot at the end is a bleak outlook, then you must live quite a pessimistic life.

And there is nothing, NOTHING to suggest tha it won't happen. It is an open ending. The director himself sees it as a hopeful ending.

Definitely agreed. It's a breakthrough performance. She's impossible to get out of your head after the movie is over, IMO. I hope this leads to bigger and better things. It is the best performance I've seen this year easily. It will be a real shame when she isn't nominated for Best Actress. In a perfect world she'd win, but with a nomination unlikely I'd definitely settle for that.

I'd agree with Lecter's reading of the ending. I remember as I was watching this after the cafe scene (personally speaking, an early candidate for Scene of the Year) I thought to myself that if the movie just ended right there it would be perfect. Tragic, but perfect. But then we got a couple more scenes of her crying in the shower and teaching classes and I wasn't sure what was up. Then we get to the final scene, and I think it's here that Adéle finally realizes she needs to move on. It's like the "Expectations vs. Reality" scene in (500) Days of Summer - the café scene would be a perfect final meeting for Adéle and Emma, but I think she goes to the exhibit hoping for a similar meeting, and doesn't get it. And at that point she realizes it's time to move on, and she does. That turned out to be the perfect place to end.

I loved the rest of the movie too. One of the absolute best of the year.

Today is the day! Driving to a random theater I've never been to about an hour away. The seats better be comfortable.

Before the release of this movie, I wasn't against it but I didn't particularly care to see it. The much buzzed about sex scenes sounded annoying and like there were there only to create buzz for the movie. Thankfully, I decided to make the trip to see it and I couldn't have been more wrong. Watching Blue is the Warmest Color was quite a fascinating experience. The film starts with Adele as a young adult and trying to find herself and her sexual identity. It's a coming of age film of sorts, most definitely but it's so much more than that. Later in the film when Adele is living with Emma, the film changes it's tone and it turns into a punch right in the gut. The film completely belongs to Adèle Exarchopoulos. The film isn't so much about her relationship with Emma, but it is about her finding herself. You get to know her so well in fact that in later scenes, I literally felt uneasy and uncomfortable. It was a beautiful, beautiful performance. Léa Seydoux was very good as Emma, though not even close to being in the same league as Adele.

As for the sex scenes everyone has heard so much about, they are somewhat necessary and somewhat not. The relationship between Adele and Emma is purely physical. Without their sexual attraction their relationship wouldn't have lasted as long as it did, it was one of the only things they had in common. Early in the movie before Emma comes into play, Adele has a sexual encounter with a boy at school. Throughout the scene she looks bored and completely uninterested. Fast forward to her sexual relationship with Emma, she is a completely different person. So in that respect, they definitely needed to make the sex part of their relationship known. I do think it could have been trimmed down a bit, but it didn't hurt the movie either. I honestly don't think the director was trying to make "art porn." He wanted you to be there with them and was making their sexual yearning known.

If you can see this movie, see it. It blew my mind and I can't imagine it not stirring up certain feelings in you. One of the very best films of 2013, by far.

10/10

Saw it again, just as great the second time around.

Saw it yesterday and it's still working on me. Adèle Exarchopoulos is a revelation and pure perfection in this movie.

Yes. Yes she is.

An hour of a good coming-of-age film, an hour of a great love story and about thirty minutes of great porn. Unfortunately most of this takes place simultaneously and there's another 80-90 minutes of nothing. Much like the pleasure of their sex scenes, the torture of their break up is stretched out to a ridiculous length. Why did we need to see half an hour of classroom scenes? Or Adele torturing herself by continuing to see Emma. That can't end well for Niles, or whatever her name was, and Adele knows it. She's only doing it with the slim hope that Emma will crack and have sex with her again, possibly leaving her girlfriend for a second time. Should I feel sorry for this character? If they needed to make it so long I wish they would have focused more on unresolved earlier plots. Was Adele picked on at school? It didn't seem like the popular kids minded the other gay people. I thought her friends were interesting, but they're never seen again after showing their worst sides.

Act 1 and 2 - B+
Act 3 - C-