The French comic adaptation Blue is a Warm Color hit the cinemas 9 years ago. The 3-hour queer love epic was critically acclaimed and won the Palme d’Or at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. However, the euphoria surrounding the film was overshadowed by serious allegations against director Abdellatif Kechiche and the Filming the licentious sex scenes.
We summarize the scandal in this article. You can now stream blue is a warm color in its entirety on Amazon Prime *.
On Amazon Prime: What is the love drama Blue is a warm color about?
Blue is a warm color – Trailer (German) HD
The attractive Thomas (Jeremie Laheurte) lies at the feet of 15-year-old Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos). But instead of dreaming of her admirer, Adèle has other fantasies: She dreams of Emma (Léa Seydoux), an art student with blue hair, who happened to cross her path. The two young women get to know each other and become closer, but with that comes the problems.
Over three hours, Blue is a Warm Color tells the ups and downs of a passionate love story. Especially the explicitly filmed sex scenes – including a ten minute love sequence – take up a lot of space and provided a topic of conversation at film festivals. First of all in a positive way.
The scandal surrounding the shooting of the sex scenes in blue is a warm color
But soon criticism of the working conditions in the production bubbled up: At first it was only about the shooting in general, unpaid overtime and the like. However, allegations intensified around the widespread release of Blue is a Warm Color in the fall of 2013.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, leading actress Lea Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos described their experiences. They are based on an unequal balance of power, which means that not only blue is a warm colour: “The thing is, in France, unlike in the US, the director complete power. When you sign a contract you have to surrender to it and in a way you are caught“according to Seydoux.
Abdellatif Kechiche based his approach to the love drama on this balance of power, Exarchopoulos describes:
He warned us that we must trust Him—trust blindly—and surrender to Him. He was making a movie about passion, so he wanted sex scenes, but without choreography. Rather special sex scenes.
After all, the big 10-minute sex scene is said to have taken 10 days to shoot:
When we started filming, I realized that he [der Regisseur] really wanted everything from us. Most people don’t even dare to ask about the things he did. And they are more respectful. You are reassured and reassured during the sex scenes and they are choreographed which desexualizes the act.
In the interview, Exarchopoulos and Seydoux said they would never work with the director again. Then “it was awful”according to Seydoux.
This is how the director reacted to the criticism of the sex scenes
Abdellatif Kechiche later reacted to the criticism, but without going into the details of the allegations. He threatened not to release the film (which he failed to do). Rather, during the press tour, he downplayed the actresses’ experiences by placing them in the context of suffering, such as “unemployed” would experience. “How indecent to talk about suffering when you have one of the best jobs in the world.”
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blue is a warm colour
Seydoux then qualified some of her criticism. You didn’t criticize the director, just the technology. Exarchopoulos also later emphasizes that the director neither tortured nor beat her. He only asked that she should get everything out of herself. But of course the director is responsible for the methods, which he applies. A few years later, allegations of sexual abuse against Abdellatif Kechiche became public, but were dropped due to a lack of evidence.
It is more than questionable whether a shoot like Blue is a warm color would still be possible today. In the meantime, at least larger productions are going more sensitive to nude and sex scenes. Intimacy coordinators prevent filmmakers from abusing their power and actors from feeling uncomfortable. That actors: themselves when shooting sex scenes “feel like prostitutes” (Seydoux) shouldn’t happen like this anymore.
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