Emma (Lea Seydoux) and Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos) share a tender moment.

Ah! Relationships! They come in all shapes and sizes. Blue is the Warmest Color is a story that will propel you straight into teenaged angst and over into adult love and all of its stirrings and pleasures. Directed by Tunisian-French director Abdellatif Kechiche, Blue is the Warmest Color explores the life of two women who practically devour each other in the name of love and then spit one out after a betrayal.

Adèle (played by the Bridget Bardot-esque Adèle Exarchopoulos) is a 15-year-old coming into her own sexual awakening, and Emma (played by Lea Seydoux) is the self-assured college art student with the hair of blue. The interesting feature of this film is Kechiche’s strong refrain from dramatizing the shortfall of a May-December romance; instead, the director concentrates on the elements of a relationship we all experience—no matter the age. There is the euphoria of love; the excitement of looking for that stranger who caught your eye on an ordinary day in the park; the furtive glances exchanged between parties at the nightclub; the calvacade of sex in the afternoon, and the athleticism it takes to get you to that place of utter depletion thereafter.

Adele and Emma

In the process, Kechiche moves us into the worlds of art and education—worlds Adèle and Emma rely on during their times of heartache. Adèle’s elementary school and her students serve as her refuge once her relationship takes a riveting turn. Emma immerses herself into her artwork and manages to strain an exhibit in a coveted art gallery.

Yet for all of his cinematic frolics, Kechiche overwhelms the eye with a nimiety of close-ups; he is entranced especially by lips, closing in on Adèle when she smokes or chomps down food or gobbles up her lover’s lips … feet … hands.

At times during the 3-hour movie, you beg for relief from the human face and body. May I please have a long shot of some trees? A plaza? Architecture?

Blue is the Warmest Color plays through November 21 at The Ross in Lincoln.

Listen to review of Blue is the Warmest Color
on NET’S Friday Live! @ 43:26

http://netnebraska.org/interactive-multimedia/none/friday-live-emery-blagdon-and-his-healing-machine

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