This film is based on Julie Maroh's graphic novel "Le bleu est une couleur chaude." Watching this 2013 film (Blue is the Warmest Color) is like drinking water from a fire hose ! There is so much to take in on the first viewing. Be it the mesmerizing yet sloppy beauty of Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulus), who was encouraged by the director to improvise lines. Be it the extraordinarily sensual nature of the film in endless close-ups. Be it the 10-minute long sex scene that is so un-Hollywood (1 minute max is typical formula) in its mimicry of real life, it is not choreographed (which typically desexualizes the act). Be it the rich French literary references to Sartre, Francis Ponge and Pierre de Marivaux. Be it the uncanny improbable ability of a French-Tunisian male director (Abdellatif Kechiche) to explore the nuances of a same-sex relation transpiring over 3 hours. Be it the ambivalent final scene, with implications that heterosexuality is better (or not).
Unusually, the director and both actresses each were awarded the Palme d'Or at Cannes in May, 2013. They were the only women (besides Jane Campion for The Piano, 1993) to win this award, based on their role as "auteurs" (see Sullivan in Agnesfilms.com). The film is replete with controversy. Women claim that Kechiche betrays a fetishism in his male gaze, it is a male view of "lesbian" sex. Kechiche titled his adaption "La Vie d'Adèle" in France, rather than the title of Maroh's graphic novel "le bleu est une couleur chaude." Some claim he was obsessed with the actress and her buttocks, a frequent subject of the camera. And sexism is alive in the butch-femme relation as Adèle plays housewife to Emma. Also the media obsession with prosthetic vulvas on the actresses, was it real sex or not ? Does the homophobia exhibited by Adèle's classmates elevate the film's message to one of militant lesbianism ?
The Life of Marianne by Marivaux is significant as it is about the anticipation of desire. Marianne own experience of love at first sight becomes the object lesson in the classroom scene. Adèle takes it to heart. Adèle's unsatisfying heterosexual effort with Thomas (Jérémie Laheurte, who became her real-life boyfriend) and her encounter with a female classmate represent transitional steps in an awakening. Sartre's Being & Nothingness can inform the debate: are these two women just lovers or are they Lesbians ? Sullivan opines that being lesbian has its own negation, its own "nothingness." Kechiche prefers to consider the pair as simply "being." To name the women lesbians would be making a militant statement. It is like any other love story with no sexual politics. The actresses share this philosophy with the director. Note that during the shoot, France was experiencing violent gay rights protests. Same-sex marriage became legal in France May, 2013. An historical antecedent is in the film: note Louise Brooks in a silent film playing at Léa's party: Brooks was well known for her bisexual dalliances, including Greta Garbo.
Some may view the film as a tale of obsession. Swedish pop star Lykke Li's club hit "I Follow Rivers" is featured in the birthday party scene. On an interview this is what she said about the song 'I Follow Rivers'..."It's about lust and obsession and infatuation. Infatuation is something very different from love, it's a craving, it's very animalistic so it's about you crave something whether its drugs or it's this love that is really bad for you, it's gonna hurt you but you still want to go there so it's like 'I'll follow you wherever you may take me' and it's a very dark, doom place.. you know it's like a river, like you can't hold back once you jump in."
In the final analysis, Adèle cannot sustain her lustful relation with Emma (Léa Seydoux, granddaughter of the Chairman of Pathé) because of irreconcilable class differences, Adèle from a blue collar family in Lille and Léa a sophisticated intellectual and artist. It is telling that her voluptuous mouth is featured eating junk food and pasta, not just kissing. The differences that at first were points of attraction soon polarize the relation. In fact, Emma becomes very exploitative in the relation. The film ends years later as Adèle visits Emma at a gallery opening and bumps into her Arab buddy Samir. The two reunited working class heroes exchange bios. In the final scene Samir goes after Adèle without finding her. Ironically, the final shot features Samir, suggesting a political awakening in a film sequel.
Kechiche accumulated more than 700 hours of film. The film was shot chronologically, in order to capture more realistically the growing passion and tension between the actresses. French Unions revealed that the film violated French labor laws with more than 8-hour days. Kechiche was prepared to drop sex scenes for the censors, but the distributor Wild Bunch wouldn't have it.
No comments:
Post a Comment