Blue is the Warmest Color

E

ethanaugust98

A couple days ago I decided to watch Blue is the Warmest Color. Really didn't know much about what to expect, knew it won the Palme d'Or and I had heard about the explicit sex scenes, but not much else. Initially I liked it, I felt it dragged at times but felt very real. After a few days to let it sink in, it has grown on me a lot. I learned from a little reading that the French title translates to "The Life of Adele, Chapters One and Two" and that's exactly what it was. I felt like I had just viewed a portion of a real life, and a coming of age for Adele. I've recently been trying to write a short screenplay which made me appreciate the story so much more. Creating a character-driven story that so beautifully portrays a slice of life is remarkable to me.

Just my two cents, wanted to know what you all thought.
 
Absolutely beautiful movie. I loved it. The acting in European films is sooooo real. Specially French movies. Just the intensity of life takes over the movie. phenomenal.
 
I thought it was okay. I didn't love it.

I thought I read or heard Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake) make some comment that suggested he felt some skepticism about a straight man helming a film about lesbians. Darn, I haven't found the source of that. (My apologies, Mr. Guiraudie, if I'm misattributing that to you). I share (or independently feel, if I'm mistaken) that skepticism.

I didn't particularly love the storyline. Maybe I just don't relate well to lesbian melodrama. Like I said, I thought it was okay. But I did also get the feeling that it was to some extent the fantasy of a straight guy. And straight guys, I think, are well known for their interest in girl-on-girl action. Of course that's the feeling I got about the love scenes in particular. That is, here is a straight guy's take on what he hopes lesbian sex is like: hot chicks going at it in ways that conform nicely to heterosexual male fantasies. Really, eye candy for straight guys. Not only the love scenes. The casting itself, I suspect.

I am not at all saying that there's anything wrong with that. Either straight guys telling stories about gay women or lesbian sex scenes that are staged, really, to turn hetero males on. I'm only saying that I thought it undermined the verisimilitude of the film, which in turn didn't help me to like it better.

On the other hand, based on the anecdotal evidence in the video below, the lesbians featured don't seem to have any particular problem with the loves scenes in BitWC. They do seem to express some skepticism, which might to some extent validate my own skepticism.

Then again, one of the women says something like she loves the rest of the story. So I guess the rest of the film really spoke to her. Perhaps that's the only stamp of authenticity the film needs...

..."dubious" love scenes notwithstanding.


NOT SAFE FOR WORK/MATURE CONTENT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIjJ_VtU9PA
 
Last edited:
I think my problem with it is that it feels quite self indulgent. Admittedly, I watched it a while ago, but as richy points out - to me, the graphic, long, protracted lesbian sex scenes added no more to the story than a traditional sex scene might have. Or at least one that didn't go for 20 minutes (am I remembering that number correctly?)...

My real problem with it is I read a lot about it before seeing it, and so I watched it knowing that the Director apparently pushed his actors to the edge, emotionally and physically abused them, and supposedly had little idea as to where he really wanted the story to go, other than doing hundreds of takes and following cast members around for days to get a degree of reality. I remember reading that over 800 hours of footage was shot - I can't imagine there would be too many dramas that would end up with nearly a 300:1 shooting ratio.

Really the storytelling feat here was delivered by the editor(s) - to distill that amount of footage into a serviceable film, even one that's three hours long is a pretty good effort.
 
ethanaugust98 said:
Can you give some other examples? I haven't seen too many foreign films.
Click to expand...

Watch any film by Jacques Audiard
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002191/

or
Bloody Sunday
or
The Hunt - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2106476/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

In "Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas," there is a home invasion scene where there is no dialog for like 20 minutes, just people looking for people to kill, and people hiding quietly from the intruders. I've never seen anything like it.

This should be a good start.

@Richy. I really loved that film. I just looked at it as a love story, and didn't pay much attention to the lesbian part, as that isn't the part that seemed to cause all the stress. The story might as well have been a hetero one. Yes, I think it helped that the women in the scene were great looking, but I understand the sex scenes got a little cloying. But I didn't know that the director was straight. I kind of assumed that he wasn't straight. I thought he was trying to acclimatize the audience to lesbian sex through the endless sex scenes.
 
Last edited:
jax_rox said:
...I can't imagine there would be too many dramas that would end up with nearly a 300:1 shooting ratio.
Click to expand...

Good Lord. I hadn't heard about all that.

@Truindie. Good points. I think it's great that you loved it and I didn't mean to knock it for those who do love it. I thought it was okay, and perhaps it will grow on me over time as many films do. You're right: I don't want to assume that he is straight. That's why I regret that I haven't been able to find that quote of Alain Guiraudie referring to him as being straight or some such. But again, since I haven't found it as "evidence" I can link to, or even worse, if it's just my foolish old brain misremembering that I read that or what I read, then my apologies to AG and to anyone it may concern.

:)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top