DVD Review: Blue is the Warmest Color

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The life of Adele

We meet Adele (Adele Exarchopoulos) when she's 15 years old. She's a quiet girl living in France, her friends pressure her into having sex with a boy from school, who she's really not that interested in. She spots beautiful blue haired Emma (Lea Seydoux) walking by, and is immediately transfixed. We fast forward a few years, and Adele is still thinking about her. (As we're shown in the most over the top wet dream ever) She wonders into a bar by chance, and ends up actually meeting her. They fall deeply in love, but Adele isn't fully ready to out herself as a lesbian. We see how this great love affects her life moving forward.

Make no mistake, Blue is the Warmest Color is a beautiful film. One that will probably get overlooked because of the film's much talked about softcore porn sex scenes. I admit, I'm at a bit torn about how all of this was approached. Does this film need to be 3 hours? No way. They could've easily trimmed down the countless scenes of Adele eating, Adele sleeping, Adele in class, and of course, the graphic sex scenes. But then again, I never felt that those scenes were unnecessary. If I were tasked with trimming, I don't know if I'd actually cut them because although they felt long, they weren't exactly pointless. Does that make sense?

Let's talk about Exarchopoulos, I haven't seen a person carry a film in such a way since Adrian Brody in The Pianist. Everything about her is so raw. Her hair is always a mess and she never wears a stitch of make up and that is absolutely PERFECT. It's so brutally honest. Seydoux was great as well, even though I sometimes got angry with her character. This film was so honest in fact, that I sincerely hoped Adele found great love in her life after the credits started rolling..and she's a fictional character. She really made me care about her.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: A-

Memorable Quote: "I'll give it all I've got." - Adele (Adele Exarchopoulos)

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 13, 2014 at 8:06 AM

    Nice write up! As you know, I LOVED this movie so much! LOL, and those scenes were far from soft core...that was straight up PORN!

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    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMarch 13, 2014 at 9:05 AM

      lol I don't know my porn very well. That's just what my husband asked me if I was watching when he came back into the room 10 minutes later and it was still happening.

      Delete
  2. .March 13, 2014 at 9:15 AM

    My mini review from December:
    Blue is the Warmest Color (2013) - It was sort of like a study of two worlds clashing. The film had some really great acting, and some really emotional scenes. It was three hours long, but really didn't feel like it had any footage that could have been spared, which was really nice. 7.5/10

    Have you seen the trailer for Léa Seydoux's remake of Beauty and the Beast?!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMarch 13, 2014 at 9:27 AM

      I have not. I just looked it up on IMDb though, and saw Vincent Cassell's name attached. That makes it even more interesting.

      Delete
  3. Big Screen Small WordsMarch 13, 2014 at 9:54 AM

    Great review. I loved Adele's performance - it felt very real. It wasn't hard to feel for her during the latter parts of the film. It was hard to watch her go through the half without Emma - it's like you want to shake her out of her misery and tell her to move on, give her a friendly advice or talk to her. It was only Emma that she truly shared herself with, and losing her meant losing the only person she could really talk to.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMarch 13, 2014 at 1:42 PM

      Thanks! I definitely wanted to give her friendly advice. l wanted her to find happiness so much.

      Delete
  4. s.March 13, 2014 at 2:42 PM

    Glad you liked it! I thought Adele did a great job, then again I don't know how much of her was there and how much of her character - it's almost impossible to separate her from fictional Adele, especially since it's the only movie I saw with her.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMarch 13, 2014 at 9:17 PM

      I've only seen her in this, but I read enough of her interviews saying how awful filming those sex scenes were, so I'm taking it as damn good acting. lol

      Delete
  5. Alex WithrowMarch 13, 2014 at 5:12 PM

    I love what you said about Adele's performance. She really did carry this film; I found myself more impressed by her work with each passing scene.

    And while I did absolutely love this film, I wouldn't be opposed to a slightly tighter version.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Candice FrederickMarch 13, 2014 at 7:32 PM

    adele is absolutely perfect in this role, for all the reasons you described and more. i also agree that this definitely could have been trimmed down by an hour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMarch 13, 2014 at 9:19 PM

      Do you know what specifically you'd trim? That's the probably I was having. Like, yes these scenes are long, but they make sense..

      Delete
  7. thevoid99March 13, 2014 at 7:48 PM

    I wouldn't mind a slightly trimmed version of the film either but I still enjoyed it enough to put in my top 5 films of 2013 as I really, really loved Adele's performance.

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    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMarch 13, 2014 at 9:19 PM

      I think it would've made my 'Honorable Mentions' if I would've seen it early enough.

      Delete
  8. AnonymousMarch 14, 2014 at 7:59 AM

    You wrote "saving sex" in the first paragraph. I giggled. Lovely review, so happy you liked it, since I adored it so! Adele truly carried the film, no argument here. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. JoshMarch 17, 2014 at 8:10 PM

    So glad you liked it. I agree it could've been shorter, but Iove the film overall. Exarchopoulos was phenomenal, no doubt. Seydoux was also great, even if her character wasn't always easy to like.

    ReplyDelete

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