Written by Andreas Babiolakis

This review is a part of the Palme d’Or Project: a review of every single Palme d’Or winner at Cannes Film Festival. Blue is the Warmest Colour won the fifty eighth Palme d’Or (as did its stars Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux) at the 2013 festival.

The film was selected by the following jury.
Jury President: Steven Spielberg.
Jury: Daniel Auteuil, Vidya Balan, Naomi Kawase, Ang Lee, Nicole Kidman, Cristian Mungiu, Lynne Ramsay, Christoph Waltz.

For the first and last time ever, the Palme d'Or was awarded to not just the filmmaker of a motion picture. Jury head Steven Spielberg and his troop felt that Blue is the Warmesr Colour was unquestionably the best film of the festival. Knowing that motion pictures can't get more than one top prize at Cannes, Spielberg and company contemplated a bit. This was an award for director Abdellatif Kechiche, who directed the film. But the lead stars, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux, deserved something as well. It would be a shame if they couldn't win for their performances, but such is life. Then again, Spielberg and the jury decided something else: Blue is the Warmesr Colour is a masterpiece, but mostly because of the unstoppable performances by the two women that put themselves in some of the most vulnerable positions in cinematic history. And so, a decision was made: Exarchopoulos and Seydoux would share the Palme d'Or with Kechiche: a festival anomaly for a singular film.

Adapted from the graphic novel (“graphic” being a bit of a double entendre here) by Jul Maroh, Blue is the Warmest Colour is the artistic, romantic epic about a young teen named Adèle (Exarchopoulos, whose character's name was changed to her own since many of the vérité shots of her had people calling her by her real name). Adèle is discovering her sexuality, and Blue is the Warmest Colour is extremely upfront about this. As much as I adore the film, its male gaze does make the film subject to criticism, and I can absolutely understand why. Adèle's explorations are documented in full, and we follow her path towards her realization: she is also interested in women. She instantly falls in love with Emma (Seydoux): an older art student with cobalt blue hair that Adèle notices from a mile away. This hairdo will present itself again and again until Adèle is able to connect with Emma; and thus, their love for one another unfurls.

Blue is the Warmest Colour doesn't feel like a documentary because of how aesthetic the film is, with its washed out photography and major hints of the eponymous hue everywhere. The film even transforms how it is colour coded throughout its runtime, representing the ending of honeymoon phases, a growing sense of disillusionment from a young adult, and a notion of being lost within what is meant to be paradise. The film in French is titled La vie d'Adèle, because we live vicariously through the protagonist. We see her eat alone, take naps, and even just contemplate life for long stretches of time. We are invading her privacy. We are there during her highs and her lows. But we also see the world through her eyes, and this includes her disinterest in what used to bring her joy. Of course, this is all contradictory when she goes through the worst heartbreaking, but she can still yearn for what she has disconnected from, and feel guilty for hurting those that she once would do anything for.

To get back to the two Palme d'Or winners, Exarchopoulos and Seydoux deliver two of the best performances of all time as Adèle and Emma. Their love feels genuine. Their loss is excruciating. If Kechiche wanted to make you a voyeur that is prying on the most personal details of these young lives, then Blue is the Warmest Colour definitely succeeds; the extended, graphic sex scenes are definitely an indication of this (for better or for worse) . Much of that work, however, comes from the lead actresses that direct themselves and each other through improvised euphoria and crises. This is a masterclass of acting on display, but you're also seeing the importance of good performances within a film that really depends on them. I cannot imagine anyone else as these two lovers. I won't even bother trying. If anything, it is these performances that make Blue is the Warmest Colour the masterpiece of melodrama that it is.

And thats why this triple Palme d'Or win makes sense. Kechiche has been vocal about this decision, but he can be if he so desires. His two follow up films (Mektoub, My Love parts one and two) have been completely lambasted by Cannes; the latter hasn't even been released in any capacity since its festival debut (I must see how bad Intermezzo if possible: this is the new Holy Grail, it seems). It's also tough not to imagine with what Exarchopoulos and Seydoux have expressed post Blue is the Warmest Colour: that those vulnerable scenes were the end result of exhausting, exploitation-driven direction. See, I try to avoid bringing up these kinds of concerns as I would prefer to separate art from the artists, but it is nearly impossible to do so with Blue is the Warmest Colour. I love this film, but I hate these aspects of it. I cannot condone the end result without at least acknowledging where it came from.

And so this triple Palme d'Or win puts Blue is the Warmest Colour to rest. It is made by a skilled but problematic filmmaker, and bettered by its unstoppable leads. What came out of the film is an exhilarating, pure, visceral look at love, anguish, and all of the little things that make us human. It is equal parts electrifying and uncomfortable. Not many films will make you feel alive like Blue is the Warmest Colour. It is a team effort that has an unfortunately tainted past, but the end result is quite something. You cannot credit feelings this real on screen without taking into consideration the stars that left everything they had to give onto the big screen. This is a devotion to the cinematic medium unlike most. It only makes sense that Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux are as much a part of Blue is the Warmest Colour's legacy as Abdellatif Kechiche is, and that’s the hill I’m going to die on.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.