Dhruv Sharma
Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, ‘Blue is the Warmest Color‘ is a French romance film that stars Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos in the lead roles. The film has a pretty simple storyline wherein a high school teenage girl ends up forming a deep sexual and emotional bond with a blue-haired art student after she meets her at a lesbian bar. The movie is extremely well-paced and the performances of the actresses elevate it to a whole different level. Though the film’s simple yet unique take on romance is quite moving, its infamous sex scenes divided several critics and did not please a lot of the viewers. In the past, only a few films, like ‘Nymphomaniac,’ have defied the very boundaries of filmmaking and portrayed sex in the most graphic ways. In films like these, sex may not necessarily be shown to arouse the viewer; instead, it is used for portraying the raw intimacy of the characters
Similarly, in ‘Blue is the Warmest Color,’ director Abdellatif Kechiche has depicted some intense sex scenes that are crucial to understanding the intimacy the characters have. The film has raised a lot of controversy since its release, but it all comes down to one’s perspective. While some critics might see it as a man’s perversion in filming two naked women, the ones who understand the context of the film will be able to appreciate it for what it is.
The controversies were further mired by the actresses themselves, who expressed their discomfort during the shoot. But somewhere between these arguments, the film did receive massive critical acclaim, and it even won several awards for its deeply evocative portrayal of romance. Some people might want to watch erotic movies for their “realistic art” appeal, while there may also be a few others who simply want to watch them for their intense sex scenes. Whatever your reasons were to go ahead and watch ‘Blue is the Warmest Color,’ we’ve got a list of the film’s sex scenes just for you. All the scenes mentioned below have been ranked based on the chronological order in which they appear in the film and also based on their significance to the overarching plot. Here’s the list of all the sex scenes from ‘Blue is the Warmest Color’:
6. The Fantasy
The film starts off by primarily focusing on Adele’s character, who stands out for her simple appearance and unstylish look. But apart from what she looks like, she also seems to be distant from everyone around her. While her female acquaintances spend a lot of time talking about boys, she seems to be withdrawn and adds to their conversations only to fit in. Her friends later keep nudging her by saying that a senior is into her, but she only pretends to be mildly interested.
All of this is then followed by a scene where she distantly spots Emma, the girl with blue hair, across the road, and a sense of uneasiness starts consuming her. For a moment, she completely goes numb and fails to make sense of anything that goes on around her. This scene clearly portrays her feelings towards the “blue-haired girl” who she has probably seen before but has never had the courage to talk to.
She later goes on a date with the senior who is interested in her. While they sit in a dark movie theatre, the guy tries to kiss her, but she hesitates, and her discomfort clearly reflects on her face. With all the awkwardness that sets in, they call it a night, and Adele heads home. This is when, while she’s asleep, she starts dreaming of making love to the woman. As viewers, we get to see graphic glimpses of her dream where Emma caresses her and kisses her body, while parallelly, Adele starts to touch herself. But this dream abruptly comes to an end when Adele suddenly wakes up to the depressing reality of still being on her bed. This is the first time the film makes it pretty obvious that she is a lesbian but still finds it hard to accept it.
5. The Unsatisfied Sex With Thomas
Knowing about her date with the senior, whose name is Thomas, her friends start to question her about everything that happened between them when she returns to school the next day. While she tries to convince them that they just went for a movie, the girls keep suggesting that she had sex with him. This somehow gets in her head, and moments later, when she sees the guy in school, she boldly kisses him. The film then abruptly jumps to a scene where the two of them are stripping and having sex. This is the first time the movie gets so graphic with its representation of sex, but unlike the other scenes that follow, this one only lasts for a few seconds.
Post the lovemaking session, as the two lay naked in bed together, the camera focuses on Adele’s face, who clearly seems lost in her thoughts. She is clearly sad and dissatisfied and may even have realized that she’s not straight. When the guy asks her if it was good, she says that it was great. But as a viewer, we can clearly say that she’s lying. Soon after this, the film cuts to a scene where Adele expresses her regret of being with the guy to her best friend. She tells him that she constantly feels like she’s missing out on something. This is when she finally decides to call it off, and the heartbroken and teary-eyed senior walks away. Adele goes home and cries her eyes out because of how miserable she feels about herself, and that’s how her brief heterosexual relationship comes to an end.
4. The First Time
After the events of her first relationship, the film starts leading up to her meeting Emma for the first time. But before all this, one of Adele’s female friends from school kisses her but later breaks her heart by claiming that she just got carried away in the moment. To distract her from this, her best friend Valentin takes her to a gay bar. In the hope that she’ll find the blue-haired girl, Adele walks around the gay bar, and she finally spots her. That’s when Emma initiates a conversation with her and when their eyes meet for the first time, you can feel that raw tension running underneath.
The story that follows involves a scene where Adele is directly confronted by her friends who question her about her relationship with the “dyke.” She denies being a lesbian and even claims that Emma is her cousin. Meanwhile, Adele and Emma meet more frequently and get closer than ever. With each scene involving the two characters, Kechiche builds their relationship, and we gradually start feeling the intimacy they share.
And then comes the infamous 6-minute sex scene that is controversial for obvious reasons. Though a little too long, the scene feels authentic and profoundly sensuous. As a viewer, it helps you understand the depths of their relationship, physically and emotionally. After a point, it does feel like a bit of a drag, but nonetheless, it perfectly manages to depict the nature of their mutual physical hunger.
3. The Disparity Between Their Worlds Part I
The French title of the movie is ‘La Vie d’Adele Chaiters 1 et 2’, which literally translates to “The Life of Adele Chapter 1 and 2”. Before starting off with the 2nd chapter of the film, Emma and Adele invite each other to meet their respective families. When Adele meets Emma’s family for the first time, she is surprised at how open-minded they are about everything and are okay with the relationship between the two of them. Emma, being from a family of “artistic intellectuals,” even kisses Adele openly in front of her parents. Emma’s parents also seem to be very supportive of Adele’s decisions for her future.
All of this is then followed by another sex scene where the two of them make love in Emma’s bedroom. Just like the last one, even this one is as graphic and erotic as a movie sex scene can ever be. This scene again lasts much longer than your average movie sex scene. Like all the other scenes in the film, it is deeply passionate and incredibly sensuous. The scene almost gives us a physical sense of being in the room while the couple makes wild, passionate love.
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2. The Disparity Between Their Worlds Part II
Unlike Emma, Adele comes from a more conservative family where she is forced to introduce Emma as her friend who is helping her with her studies. These aspects of the film are very well kept open for interpretation, and we don’t know if Adele would ever open up about her sexual orientation to her parents. Adele’s parents, who are more orthodox, even question Emma’s dreams of becoming an artist. Her dad also claims that it’s good to be passionate about art, but one cannot make a living out of it.
The sex scene that comes after this is again quite provocative by movie standards, but compared to others, it lacks intensity and has more of a lethargic tone. This scene shows us that the two of them come from very different worlds. At Adele’s place, they have to tone things down a little just to make sure that her parents don’t even get the slightest idea about her homosexual relationship.
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1. A Heartbreaking Yet Honest Ending
The second chapter of the film begins, and the story leaps many years ahead. A few minutes in, and you can already tell that a lot has changed. Even the appearance of the two protagonists seems slightly different, and most notably, Emma is not blue-haired anymore. While Adele is working as an elementary school teacher, Emma seems to be modestly thriving with her career as an artist. Adele tries hard to fit in with Emma’s art-filled world and friends who come for a similar field of work. But at this point in time, their relationship starts to feel a little stressed, probably because of unresolved differences that were previously hinted at and also because of the growing imbalances between their professional and personal worlds. Ultimately, as everything between them completely crumbles, the two find themselves in completely different directions.
This is when the last significant adult scene comes in. Unlike all the others, there is no sex involved in this one, but it does hold a lot of significance. After they call off their relationship, Emma moves on with an old flame but still agrees to meet Adele for the last time. When they meet, after their last bitter feud, the two seem to be much more stable than they were before. But one look at each other, and their memories come flooding back to them. Emma even expresses how she has never been able to feel the same physical connection with someone else and finds sex boring with her new partner. One thing leads to another, and Adele starts caressing Emma. The two make out passionately, and Emma almost gives in to the temptation of being with her again. But the grim reality of things then hits her, forcing herself to hold back and leaving Adele with a big void in her heart.
This scene is obviously not as profane as all the others, but it shows how deeply their physical and emotional connection was still ingrained in them. In the end, it is indeed heartbreaking to see the two of them walking away from each other, but it also brings hope that Adele might eventually be able to move on to better things in life. And if she is fortunate enough, maybe she will find love all over again.
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