Blue Is the Warmest Color

Name: Blue Is the Warmest Color
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: October 25, 2013
Duration: 179 min
Rating: 89
Cast: Ad, Alma Jodorowsky, Anne Loiret, Aurélien Recoing, Benjamin Siksou

2013

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 55 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 416 Ratings

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7.8

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7.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 416 Ratings

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Blue Is The Warmest Color (US)

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Movie Details & Credits

Sundance Selects | Release Date: October 25, 2013 | NC-17

Starring: Ad, Alma Jodorowsky, Anne Loiret, Aurélien Recoing, Benjamin Siksou, Beno, Catherine Salée, Jeremie Laheurte, Léa Seydoux, Mona Walravens, Salim Kechiouche, Sandor Funtek

Summary: Blue is the Warmest Color centers on a 15-year-old girl named Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos) who is climbing to adulthood and dreams of experiencing her first love. A handsome male classmate falls for her, but an unsettling erotic reverie upsets the romance before it begins. Adèle imagines that the mysterious, blue-haired girl she encounteredBlue is the Warmest Color centers on a 15-year-old girl named Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos) who is climbing to adulthood and dreams of experiencing her first love. A handsome male classmate falls for her, but an unsettling erotic reverie upsets the romance before it begins. Adèle imagines that the mysterious, blue-haired girl she encountered in the street slips into her bed and possesses her with an overwhelming pleasure. That blue-haired girl is a confident older art student named Emma (Léa Seydoux), who will soon enter Adèle's life for real, leading to an intense and complicated love story that spans a decade and is touchingly universal in its depiction. [IFC Films]… Expand

Director: Abdel Kechiche

Genre(s): Drama, Romance

Rating: NC-17

Runtime: 179 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Justin Chang

Oct 25, 2013

It’s a simple, even predictable story, yet textured so exquisitely and acted so forcefully as to feel almost revelatory. Read full review

100

The Film Stage Raffi Asdourian

May 7, 2019

Affecting and powerful in its portrayal of love, Blue is the Warmest Color is an epic ode to the enduring affection which overwhelms when we find that special someone. Read full review

100

Tara Brady

Sep 1, 2020

Once you’ve hacked your way through the jungle of controversy, you will, in Abdellatif Kechiche’s already-notorious, rough-edged romance, encounter a small (though far from short) masterpiece. Read full review

Britt Hayes

May 7, 2019

While the film refuses to be subtle with visual metaphor, Exarchopolous and Seydoux hungrily devour their scenes; they are articulate in ways both emotional and verbal, seemingly recreating, in detail, a sumptuous feast to share with an audience that could never possibly know how it tastes. But we get very close. Read full review

Michael Phillips

Oct 31, 2013

Even with its limitations it's one of the necessary films of 2013. Read full review

Bill Goodykoontz

Oct 31, 2013

Checking in at nearly three hours and so full of passions and appetites, it’s impossible for it not to exhaust you. Read full review

Steve Persall

Nov 7, 2013

Kechiche's doting on entwined limbs, thrusting pelvises and oral stimulation, all carefully posed and continued longer than necessary to get his point across, races beyond titillation to creepy voyeurism. Read full review

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User Reviews

LowbrowCinema

Nov 5, 2013

BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR left me so astounded that I had to walk aimlessly for an hour to get over its gut wrenching examination of our ability to love and lose so profoundly. After nearly 2 hours and 20 minutes the film builds to a series of scenes that make you feel like your heart hasBLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR left me so astounded that I had to walk aimlessly for an hour to get over its gut wrenching examination of our ability to love and lose so profoundly. After nearly 2 hours and 20 minutes the film builds to a series of scenes that make you feel like your heart has been scraped by a knife, leaving only a battered shell of veins intact. Forget all the talk of explicit and long sex scenes, these just small bits of BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR, a very modern story of love and its power over all of us. Is it really possible to feel so profoundly? And can we possibly move on?… Expand

13 of 17 users found this helpful134

Proteus

Dec 26, 2013

My favorite movie of the year. It casts a magical spell on the viewer. I "fell in love" with the main character and thought about her for days afterward. Just a sublime movie in every way.

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

MarkAngel

Nov 16, 2013

The premise is not especially original nor inventive. Nevertheless, by the end of the third hour, La Vie d'Adele marvelously and bitter-sweetly becomes singular cinematic experience that feels profound in its essence. It avoids tedious detailing of events, people, circumstances, complexThe premise is not especially original nor inventive. Nevertheless, by the end of the third hour, La Vie d'Adele marvelously and bitter-sweetly becomes singular cinematic experience that feels profound in its essence. It avoids tedious detailing of events, people, circumstances, complex narratives or character studies. Instead, it focuses on simple and meaningful themes such as youth, self acceptance, love, sex, loneliness, lost and dealing with the sorrows of solitude. The juxtaposition between life and intimacy achieves greatness here.… Expand

4 of 6 users found this helpful42

ArchonMagazine

Sep 20, 2014

Seventeen year old Adele’s life is changed when she meets Emma, a sapphire haired university student, and her path changes from adrift high school student to a woman discovering herself and sexuality in Blue is the Warmest Color.

Beautiful and honest, Blue is the Warmest Color is aSeventeen year old Adele’s life is changed when she meets Emma, a sapphire haired university student, and her path changes from adrift high school student to a woman discovering herself and sexuality in Blue is the Warmest Color.

Beautiful and honest, Blue is the Warmest Color is a realistic love story. I find it quite hard to say what it is about without it sounding banal. Adele is a confused girl, unfulfilled in her life, trying to figure out what she desires. Then, girl meets girl, girl likes girl, girl falls for girl, and girl’s relationship with girl follows its destined course. In the meantime, girl comes to grips with her desire, sexuality and identity. But it is poignant, sweet, sad, unflinching,

The more naive and inexperienced of the two is Adele, played by Adele Exarchopoulos. She does a wonderful job of being both unsure and youthfully headstrong. I enjoyed her character being so blase about pretenses and frivolity in the superficial. She is hilarious to watch eat food, Adele ravenously devours meals as if her appetite for sustenance is insatiable. Emma, played by Lea Seydoux, is the slightly older college student who Adele befriends, at first as a confidante and mild mentor, but soon that friendship evolves. Emma is free-spirited and confident without being pretentious or judgmental and Seydoux’s character warrants Adele’s infatuation.

The film is raw, the sex scenes enthralling without being gratuitous and what you get essentially from Blue is the Warmest Color is a coming of age lesbian love story.

More reviews of recent releases can be found at our website.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Mancunian2014

Jun 21, 2014

A mature movie for mature audiences. It realistically shows a young Adele coming to terms with her lesbian identity in a still rather homophobic French society. It also shows rather well how one cannot control who ones falls in love with and how one's first love can seem like the universe.A mature movie for mature audiences. It realistically shows a young Adele coming to terms with her lesbian identity in a still rather homophobic French society. It also shows rather well how one cannot control who ones falls in love with and how one's first love can seem like the universe. And moreover, Adele simply doesn't fall for or sleep with Emma right away. It grows to that point which is really how life works. Yet, their relationship doesn't work and rightly sends the message that cheating is detrimental in society where it is widely believed and glorified in the media that one's partner will do that.

My complaints with the film are how long it is (even though you don't feel that as much as you might) and how the long lesbian sex scene was, which essentially ended up being pornography. I wasn't the only theatre-goer who giggled with absurdity when it simply would not end! And not that I think one who watches porn is necessarily immoral; rather I think that the director shouldn't try to pass off what he'd produced in that scene as art. He did it push boundaries and make a name for himself in the end. But it's the filming technology and porn actor stand-ins that's becoming even more common in once taboo movies. This is really nothing revolutionary.… Expand

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

DCEdmonds

Nov 13, 2014

"Blue Is The Warmest Color" 10 Scale Rating: 6.5 (Decent) ...

The Good: The film is brave and has no problem showing the dark and ugly side of some relationships. Realistic almost to a fault with extremely good performances from the two leads. Exceptional dialogue that enhance some very"Blue Is The Warmest Color" 10 Scale Rating: 6.5 (Decent) ...

The Good: The film is brave and has no problem showing the dark and ugly side of some relationships. Realistic almost to a fault with extremely good performances from the two leads. Exceptional dialogue that enhance some very powerful moments.

The Bad: At just over three hours, the film is just way WAY too long. It isn't as if all that time was filled with relevant scenes either. Far too often, a drawn out scene would pop up that would be a basic conversation between two or more characters. These scenes did nothing to build the characters or add to the story itself. It almost felt like the director wanted to intentionally hit the three hour mark.… Expand

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

Pedrokelvi

Jan 1, 2021

Film that has an appeal that is pornography level. In addition to its disgusting backstage stories

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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10	#10 Best Movie of 2013
96	#96 Most Discussed Movie of 2013
2	#2 Most Shared Movie of 2013