Abdellatif Kechiche’s** Blue Is The Warmest Colour **was acclaimed at Cannes, praised by Festival jury president Steven Spielberg and handed the Palme d’Or. But it has since run into controversy, not least for lengthy explicit sex scenes and criticism of the director by his stars, Lea Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos. Now the trailer is online at Apple.
The film is based on Julie Maroh’s graphic novel, and follows Adèle (Exarchopoulos), a young woman whose longings, ecstasies and losses are charted across a span of several years. She meets Emma (Seydoux), the older woman that excites her desire and becomes the love of her life. As their relationship blossoms and stumbles, we witness gestures, embraces, furtive exchanges, and arias of joy and devastation.
Despite the comments by the leads – and Maroh, who was not too thrilled with the adaptation and the way it treated the relationship – the film has been winning praise and criticism in equal measure. Slapped with an NC-17 rating in the States, Blue Is The Warmest Colour has been playing the festival circuit (including the London Film Festival in October), but will hit our cinemas on November 15.