Blue is the Warmest Color (2013)

Film: Blue is the Warmest Color (2013)
Stars: Adele Exarchopoulos, Lea Seydoux, Salim Kechiouche, Aurelien Recoing, Catherine Salee
Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
Oscar History: It scored a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Film, but couldn't translate over to Oscar.  It did, however, win the Palme d'Or, so there's no tears to be spilled over this film.
Snap Judgment Ranking: 5/5 stars

I frequently get asked what type of movies that I enjoy, and like a four-year-old answering that question, I respond with a smug "I like good movies."  And while this is a little bit jerk-like, I do believe it.  Movies can be great regardless of genre, regardless of the subject matter.  The other dirty secret is that they can also be truly great regardless of how complicated the plot of the film is.  And that's at the heart of what makes Blue is the Warmest Color so special.

(Spoilers Ahead) This is because Blue is the Warmest Color, despite all the press you heard, is not that untraditional of a movie.  The film-large and looming at 180 minutes-rarely feels it length, and you may be (understandably) distracted by the long, sexually-explicit sex scene that runs toward the middle of the movie.  Indeed, that is where all of the press for the film seemed to gravitate.  The film's gay center, and the sexual attractiveness of the two leads (coupled with the controversy's surrounding Abdellatif Kechiche's behavior on the set) have deeply overshadowed what is at the center of the film, a love story.  And that's what's so great about Blue is the Warmest Color.  It takes perhaps the oldest plot in cinema (a love story) and lays it out, bare, complete, simple.

In this way it's very similar to another masterpiece (yep, the movie deserves that term): Brokeback Mountain.  Perhaps it's because both films have a gay element that I start with that comparison, but really, it's more because both films are elegantly simple.  You'd be hard-pressed in recent years to find a straight romance that both is brilliant and is confident enough not to have a gimmick.  Her is a spectacular movie, but you can hardly call it traditional boy-meets-girl.  Blue Valentine is probably the closest, but that has to rely on juxtaposing the past with the present.  No, it's films like Brokeback, Weekend, and Blue is the Warmest Color in recent years that have been simple, classic stories of romance.

The film tells the story of Adele (Exarchopoulos), a young woman who is on the verge of discovering her sexuality, slowly realizing that she is in fact a lesbian.  While she clumsily tries dating a guy (trick of the trade: if Jeremie Laheurte doesn't do it for you, guys may not be a solid option), but continually finds herself drawn into the gay world around her, and after a brief kiss with a classmate (where Adele wants the contact more), she finds herself with Emma (Seydoux), an older, more experienced mentor who becomes her girlfriend.

The film continues on at a fairly traditional rate, with the two becoming immersed into each other's worlds.  There's an oddly small amount of traditional gay tropes in the remainder of the film-only on sparing occasions do we see the characters focus on the perceptions of the heterosexuals in their lives (the parents, the friends, the coworkers, etc), but instead it becomes more about framing their relationship against each other.  This is the first true love of Adele's life, and a significant one in Emma's.  They laugh and share themselves, both physically and spiritually, and we see the two of them fall in love.

Of course, being a three-hour French drama, conflict eventually permeates this den, and Adele cheats (though as the rest of the film unfolds, we learn that this was merely a means to an end, and that their relationship was bound to end).  The final few scenes of the movie, with Adele's hunger for trying to return to some semblance of normal (that scene in the cafe is ROUGH) and then the party where Adele realizes that she has to close this chapter of her life (in a purple dress, no less, in one of the few scenes where the color blue doesn't pop into her eyes), are some of the best scenes I saw in 2013.  Real, honest, emotional, a large payoff from a very well-timed cinematic investment.

I should state that while the direction, writing, and pacing of the film are all superb, this film would fall apart if it weren't for two brilliant leads, and thankfully we get them.  Lea Seydoux understands the complexity of Emma-the way that she's more experienced, but also keenly aware of what inexperience she carries.  There's also a coldness to her, an eagerness to please-she knows that she's in the peak of her beauty and allure, and maximizes it for all to see.  Adele Exarchopolous, a newcomer to cinema, is even better as Adele.  Much has been made about the way she consumes food and how it mirrors the way she devours life in the film, but it is wildly effective.  Even better is the way that she so wonderfully inverses Emma-she's warm and open to everyone, and not yet aware of the journey she's about to walk through.  A mesmerizing pair of leads in a terrific film.

I know this is a movie that some ran hot-and-cold for (me being hot for the coldness, I guess)-what were your thoughts?  Did you love or hate this film?  Where do you think that Adele and Lea go next with their newfound fame?  And how much do you think France wishes they could have submitted this film for eligibility at the Oscars?  Share in the comments!