This is an affecting, if long, coming of age story that contains perhaps the most graphic sex scenes I’ve ever seen in a coming of age movie (i.e. a movie involving “teens”). The film goes places other films don’t with the passion of “first love” thing, i.e. explicit sex. But there’s a lot more to the film than that and one of the best aspects of the film is its teenagers – who all feel really authentic, despite clearly being played by slightly older people – and particularly the lead, who eats with her mouth open and acts about as much like a teenage girl as you could imagine. In fact the film is grounded in a world that feels really true, world where homosexuality is accepted by some, not all, and it still sucks to be a teenager – but this world is also full of eye-opening, life-changing experiences.

But, to me, the film’s reach somewhat exceeds its grasp. As I said, this is a long movie and it’s a long movie because it sets out to portray the entire relationship, including the before and after. But there’s so much attention spent on the passion of that early love that the rest of the relationship – and especially, the life outside of that relationship – feels pushed to the side (though that may be intentional).

But it’s still mostly pretty impressive.

8/10

PS: There have been many allegations about how the film was made and I’m not informed enough to comment. I do sincerely hope that the sex scenes were based upon scenes in the comic and were not the idea of the male director and I further hope that the male director did not force or coerce his actresses to do these things.

• Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche
• Produced by Abdellatif Kechiche, Brahim Chioua, Vincent Maraval
• Screenplay by Abdellatif Kechiche, Ghalia Lacroix, Based on Blue Is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh
• Starring:
  • Léa Seydoux as Emma
  • Adèle Exarchopoulos as Adèle
  • Salim Kechiouche as Samir
  • Aurélien Recoing as Adèle’s father
  • Catherine Salée as Adèle’s mother
  • Benjamin Siksou as Antoine
  • Mona Walravens as Lise
  • Alma Jodorowsky as Béatrice
  • Jérémie Laheurte as Thomas
  • Anne Loiret as Emma’s mother
  • Benoît Pilot as Emma’s stepfather
  • Sandor Funtek as Valentin
  • Fanny Maurin as Amélie
  • Maelys Cabezon as Laetitia
  • Stéphane Mercoyrol as Joachim
  • Aurelie Lemanceau as Sabine
• Cinematography by Sofian El Fani
• Edited by Albertine Lastera, Camille Toubkis, Sophie Brunet, Ghalia Lacroix, Jean-Marie Lengelle
• Production companies: Wild Bunch, Quat’sous Films, France 2 Cinéma, Scope Pictures, Vértigo Films, Radio Télévision Belge Francofone, Eurimages, Pictanovo
• Distributed by Wild Bunch (France), Cinéart (Belgium), Vértigo Films (Spain)Release date: 23 May 2013
• Running time: 179 minutes
• Country: France, Belgium, Spain
• Language: French
• Budget: €4 million
• Box office: $19.5 million