Review of La Vie D'Adèle. or Blue is the Warmest Color

Blue won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year not only for its director Adbellahtif Kechiche but also for its young actresses Adèle Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux the Emma with blue hair of the English title.  The French title which draws less attention to the color blue and more to the life of Adèle itself is perhaps the more appropriate title.  Adèle is a story of self-discovery,love found,ecstasy,love lost, pain and grief.  Throughout the unfolding of the story the camera is an intrusive almost abusive presence in the life of Adèle as it follows her though her various transformations.  I understand the need for the director to do that, he wants us to get under Adèle's skin and to know her as intimately as an artificial medium such as cinema will allow.  I didn't necessarily get under her skin but got as close to it as was possible, felt her joy,her growing power in her nascent sexuality and most importantly her loss.  Much as been written about the overtly sexual scenes in this film and some might go see it out of a prurient sense of discovering the forbidden, they might end up being disappointed.  Although clearly explicit the scenes, there are two almost identical scenes, are not overly sexy although they are not devoid of sensuality.  These are two beautiful young women who are obviously taking extreme delight in each other's bodies.  My problem, and it's a small one, was that the scenes went on for too long, so long as to become more voyeuristic than they should have been.  Furthermore Adèle is young and inexperienced in lovemaking, clearly being seduced by an older more adept and experienced partner yet we don't see anything tentative in the lovemaking where there should have been some hesitation or even "pudeur" we see none.  Of course that could also be explained by the voracious nature of Adèle herself.  The filmmaker does spend a lot of time particularly on Adèle's mouth to convey that message.  The closeups of her extremely mobile face are very intense.  It's especially shocking to see her eating almost gluttonously and with obvious pleasure not just in one sequence but in a few sequences interspersed throughout the film.  There is sauce on her lips, she sticks out her tongue to lick it, she talks with her mouth full, these are things rarely seen on film.
In fact the whole focus on a character eating is something rarely seen on film.  Characters are seen ordering, sipping wine, having a bite here and there but it's all very gentile and sober.  Eating is messy and not especially sexy to film with bits stuck in one's teeth, the chewing and the mouth opening and closing, it doesn't lend itself to being filmed that easily.  There is something so naked about Adèle eating which could be in an of itself more shocking than the sex scenes themselves.
This is a very moist film.  Characters cry, especially Adèle, with the kind of reckless abandon rarely captured on film.  There is mucus aplenty and no attempt to wipe it off.  Grief too just like eating isn't especially pretty, it's visceral and organic.  This film might have the best, most moving breakup scene I have ever witnessed, it's executed so flawlessly and with so much passion like a punch in the gut, the pain is real for her and it becomes real for us.  Kudos to the two young actresses for putting so much of themselves out there, these are brave performances especially by the young Adèle although Leah Seydoux also shines in her role of temptress and seductress.  Highly recommended.