BFI Releases List Of The Top 30 LGBT Films Of All Time

From: NewNowNext

11

Blue Is the Warmest Color 

Abdellatif Kechiche

France / Belgium / Spain 

2013

Blue Is the Warmest Color (French: La Vie d'Adèle – Chapitres 1 & 2 – "The Life of Adèle – Chapters 1 & 2") is a 2013 French romantic coming-of-age drama film written, produced, and directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, starring Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux. The film revolves around Adèle (Exarchopoulos), a French teenager who discovers desire and freedom when a blue-haired aspiring painter (Seydoux) enters her life. The film charts their relationship from Adele's high school years to her early adult life and career as a school teacher. The premise of Blue Is the Warmest Color is based on the 2010 French graphic novel of the same name by Julie Maroh, which was published in North America in 2013.

Production began in March 2012 and lasted six months. Approximately 800 hours of footage was shot, including extensive B-roll footage, with Kechiche ultimately trimming the final cut of the film down to 179 minutes. The film generated controversy upon its premiere at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and before its release. Much of the controversy was centered around claims of poor working conditions on set by the crew and the lead actresses and also the film's raw depiction of sexuality.

At Cannes, the film unanimously won the Palme d'Or from the official jury and the FIPRESCI Prize. It is the first film to have the Palme d'Or awarded to both the director and the lead actresses, with Seydoux and Exarchopoulos joining the director Jane Campion as the only women to have won the award. The film had its North American premiere at the 2013 Telluride Film Festival. It has received critical acclaim and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language. Many critics declared it to be the best film of 2013.