Review of Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013) by Randy C — 28 Aug 2018

An absolutely wrenching film that traces in languorous fashion the passage from finding what you really want, making a mistake you not unreasonably underestimate the effect of, and then spend a LONG time regretting. The fairly explicit, arguably voyeuristic love scenes seem to serve the purpose of allowing us to see just how deep the passion runs between the two protagonists, and filmically parallels the long gaze we lay (or not) on works of fine (but stationary) art, and finds a dozen echoes in the intimate, voyeuristic scenes of physical heartbreak, of intellectual exchange, and of domestic life (among many others).

The film cleverly fails to answer a number of questions over how far Emma is less than a simple injured party - are Adele's suspicions entirely misplaced about her fidelity for instance? And the ending is horribly, beautifully unsatisfactory.

I hesitated about giving this five stars before I thought about this review and realised we are probably dealing with a modern masterpiece here. Not to mention the jaw-dropping brilliance of Adele Exarchopoulos's Oscar-worthy performance. Future critics may wonder with surprise and surmise as to why this film was not featured.