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Mandatory assignment #4 for progression 2...

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BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR Director Abdellatif Kechiche’s film Blue Is the Warmest Color serves as a major breakthrough for France during a time when same-sex love was still viewed as a controversial, unconventional subject. Kechiche’s approach at depicting the relationship of the protagonists, Adele (Adele Exarchopoulos) and Emma (Lea Seydoux), is one that is ordinary yet empowering in this sense - it shows love in its barest forms, “as cataclysmic and destructive and sensual and unforgettable as the real thing must always be” (Bradshaw). The fact that this love is shared between two females is beside the point – love has no gender and this factor among all the others should be the last thing that keeps two people apart. Kechiche’s effort to emphasize this particular idea and shift France’s homophobic prejudices is evident in many instances throughout the film. His representation of Adele’s love story in particular sheds light on the various situational factors that all together lead to the end of this chapter of her life, providing the audience with a new perspective on what can draw two people away from love. Despite the complexity of these discrepancies, Kechiche ultimately portrays the poignancy, the bittersweet longing, and tender nostalgia of first love that carries throughout most of our lives. He beautifully shows in film that the two may no longer be in love with each other, but “[they] have infinite tenderness for [each other] and [they] will [their] whole life” (Blue is the Warmest Color, 02:43:20). Separated into two of many more chapters of her life to come, the film essentially revolves around Adele’s self-discovery of her sexuality through which she emotionally and sexually matures from a loving relationship that blossomed through this self-acceptance. The first chapter illustrates the honeymoon phase of her relationship with Emma – her first true love without any downsides, full of the amazing feel good emotions that drive all of us mad in love.

But even so, it’s apparent that Adele and Emma come from strikingly contrasting worlds as depicted by two stunning dinner episodes when the lovers visit their respective families. Viewers can automatically sense the difference in ambience when comparing side by side Emma’s family to that of Adele’s. Emma’s parents, having already accepted their daughter’s sexuality, expected a visit from Adele as their daughter’s girlfriend from the get go, and this in itself shows that Emma undoubtedly comes from a more liberal, open-minded, and nonconforming family. On the other hand, Adele’s parents until the very end only know of Emma as their daughter’s philosophy tutor and Emma is evidently disappointed, but not surprised of this fact as she is aware of the more conservative, shallow environment Adele grew up with all her life. In addition, when Adele discusses her career aspirations to become a primary school teacher all the while expressing her fear of the job market, Emma’s stepfather kindly comforts her saying, “At least you know where you’re going. And that’s important, I think” (Blue Is the Warmest Color, 01:31:22). By way of contrast, Adele’s parents are the first to point out that creating art for a living is an unrealistically unstable path to embark on as they voice, “It’s important to have an artistic side. But you need a real job too. To earn a living. So if things ever get bad, you make a living” (Blue is the Warmest Color, 01:37:00). They then continue to ask what her boyfriend does and when Emma lies saying he works in business, Adele’s parents express their approval and reassurance saying, “If you want to do art, it’s nice to have a husband who pays the bills” (Blue is the Warmest Color, 01:38:05). Adele’s parents are in a standstill in terms of modern times as they’re still narrow-minded in various subjects ranging from different sexualities, gender roles, and the money-comes-before-happiness mindset. Based on these contrasts, the audience clearly grasps the idea that Emma has a strong, solid support system which justifies her radiant confidence and self-reliance whereas Adele is still in that growing process of learning to

live day by day accepting her identity. These seemingly subtle but monumental distinctions will later prove to be the reason why the two lovers can no longer be together. Notwithstanding these contrasting circumstances, the lovers come to experience an exquisite, lustful love that is all-consuming and everlasting at least in the moments it's shared. However, the film shows that all good things must come to an end as the second chapter presents a rather dismal, mellowing tale of how Adele learns to fend for herself, completely dissociating from her codependent relationship with Emma. In essence, it appears as though everything has taken a different course from the previous chapter. Adele is left friendless as they all her friends have renounced her for her lesbianism behavior, she is no longer capable of mingling with Emma’s colleagues as she slowly realizes she falls into a different intellectually and socially stimulating group, and the audience can gradually see her slipping into the dark realms of solitude. This chapter of her life emanates a feeling of uneasiness as the audience can see Adele facing the daily struggle of going on with her life without Emma, who was her one and only support system among her crowd of homophobic parents and friends. The second chapter, also the home to many of the sex episodes in the film, seems to become realistic as it slowly uncovers the heartbreaking circumstances surrounding Adele and how she must now “deal with the breakup, which is the result of belonging to different social milieus” (Kechiche). From the transition of chapter one into chapter two, the slow but gradual fading out of the love fostered between the two characters is palpable, and the undeniable influence of the gap in social classes is shown towards the end of the film when Adele is visibly lost in Emma’s world of elite, upper class ambience she couldn’t dare fit into even if she tried. In sum, the film as a whole exhibits the inevitable fallout that results from this colossal disparity in socioeconomic worlds. As Adele

comprehends that she doesn’t belong in Emma’s world and vice versa, a destructive strain is put into the relationship – one that eventually puts an end to everything once and for all. Though they manage to fall in love and accept each other for their individual differences, an unexplainable repelling energy between the two characters eventually drives them away from each other as they fail to understand where each one of them is coming from. In the case of Emma, as desperate as she is for Adele to become a more artistic person, she only demands such desires from her without fully doing her part in helping Adele develop into the author she envisions her to be. Likewise, Adele gradually feels alone in the relationship as she isn’t able to mingle with Emma’s coworkers and essentially loses out on the feeling of belonging in Emma’s social circle. The audience can grasp the idea that towards the end of the movie, "...it is Adele who develops a kind of emotional maturity that Emma, the increasingly smug careerist, can't match” (Bradshaw) despite Emma appearing to be the more dominant partner whether it's educationally or socially. It’s clear that there has been little to almost no emotional growth on Emma’s end throughout this emotional rollercoaster ride that was her relationship with Adele, and like she always has since the beginning, Emma upholds this arrogant, I’m-better-than-youin-every-way attitude. With these unsettled conflicts building up, the tension between the two characters flares up through Adele’s infidelity and perpetually breaks the loving bond of the two. To put into perspective, although on the outside Adele’s parents don’t give off the best impressions as people who are living in modern ages, their individual characters should not be at fault but rather it should be their socioeconomic status. France has a long history of social inequality and with this increase in gap between the rich and poor, likewise the quality of romantic relationships will differ with people with higher socioeconomic statuses having less relationship instability, significantly lower divorce rates, and overall more trusting relationships.

With Emma and Adele coming from socioeconomic statuses on the opposite ends of the spectrum, Emma in particular shows this research to be true – with her higher income and quality of life, she finds herself having the upper hand in the relationship having more resources to better herself socially and intellectually. Adele, unable to catch up to the pace at which Emma is going out due to these class differences, eventually weans off towards the end of the film showing that social classes inevitably affect romantic relationships for better or in this case, for worse. Despite their compelling love, in the end, class is a component that cannot be ignored. The two characters who meet and fall into passion come from different worlds and there’s simply nothing that can be controlled about this fact. But the conceit of the film is that Adèle cannot deny her feelings: she’s been awakened as if from a slumber by her ferocious desire for Emma. And Emma is drawn to that attention, like a flame to the moth, and is equally smitten. Although initially, their different backgrounds were what made the other partner so alluring and desirable, it comes to our attention that these differences are what exactly leads to their eventual rupture. Adele is not poor, but she comes from a traditional working class family and for this reason among others, she isn't particularly ambitious. Emma is from a wealthy family, one that nurtures her interest in the creative arts which stimulates ambition. She travels in intellectual circles and has no interest in a domestic life. This is the divide that pulls them apart - with Emma unable to make the relationship with Adele the priority that Adele needs and her inability to understand Adele's point of view, she pushes her to create and write and take up a life that Adele doesn't really want, showing that the two weren’t able to overcome the unavoidable pressures of class differences. What makes Kechiche’s film so awe-inspiring and especially groundbreaking is that it went against the then-norms of modern day France and used their idea of forbidden love to

deliver a general message of the way socioeconomic factors can intervene with romantic relationships. Indeed, the disparity in social classes was to fault their eventual downfall, but another key point to consider is how these different backgrounds shaped the different viewpoints that each character has of the world that ultimately constitutes their personality and intellectual capacity that creates trouble within the relationship. As a very practical, straightforward person, Adele understands nothing about “representational” politics – she never even considers the cultural appropriations that underlie the African dances she organizes for her pre-school students, and at one point, even forces her boyfriend Thomas to read the very heteronormative novel, The Life of Marianne, that will later prove to be the reason of her social exclusion. Contrary to this, Emma is the master of representation - as a painter and art student, she’s unafraid to express her lesbian identity and is distinctly more attuned to the “representational” politics of the world. However, it is her promulgating insistence on lesbian “politics” that makes her blind to the manipulative nature of her relationship with the much younger and lower-class Adèle and causes her to become oblivious to her increasingly distant attitude towards Adele. All in all, the movie’s point is surely that there is no guarantee that either Adèle or Emma will ever find anything as good ever again. The idea that they can each go on to find a better or richer experience is most definitely unreal. This isn't young love or first love, it is love: the most all-consuming, maddening, passionate feeling the world has yet to offer. During a time when such love was viewed as taboo and something to be off-limits at all time, this movie certainly inserts new perspective into love without boundaries which is what makes it so special. Love is something that is purely about the heartfelt emotions and nothing else.

Works Cited: • Blue Is the Warmest Color. Dir. Abdellatif Kechiche. Perf. Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux. Fusion Media Sales Ltd, 2014.

• Bradshaw, Peter. "Blue Is the Warmest Colour – Review." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 05 Apr. 2017. • Roberts, Soraya. "“Blue Is the Warmest Color” Is about Class, Not Just Sex." Salon. Salon Media Group, 3 Nov. 2013. Web. 05 Apr. 2017. • Conger, Rand D., Katherine J. Conger, and Monica J. Martin. "Socioeconomic Status, Family Processes, and Individual Development." Journal of Marriage and the Family. U.S. National Library of Medicine, June 2010. Web. 05 Apr. 2017....