ANATOMY OF A SEX SCENE
Blue Is The Warmest Color: Full Scene
And we are back with another installment of our new monthly column Anatomy of a Sex Scene. Last month we focused on South Korean erotic thriller The Handmaiden, a film that succeeded in filming its sex scenes in a way that was safe and comfortable for the performers. Today we are turning our attention to a film that did the opposite, Blue is the Warmest Color. If you’re thinking we’ve discussed this movie, and the sex scene before, you would be right. The film, which made history at the Cannes Film Festival when both the film’s director, Abdellatif Kechiche, and its stars, Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos, won the Palme d’Or, has been covered extensively. Heck, we’ve even touched on the circumstances surrounding the filming of the sex scene. Now, we are only going to focus on that scene.
The sex scene in question clocks in at over seven minutes long, although when the movie was in production it was announced that the scene would actually be thirty minutes long, so we can be thankful they cut it down. Look, you may love a good sex scene, I sure do, but over seven minutes for it is long. The scene depicts the film’s two leads moving through a litany of positions director Abdellatif Kechiche probably pulled from a plethora of pornographic films. Pornos that were clearly made by straight men. Yes, the male gaze is a major problem in the sex scene in Blue is the Warmest Color.
Here’s the thing, I strongly believe in the importance of sex scenes in cinema. I think they can be used to not just titillate, but to provide important character development. The Handmaiden for example, uses the sex scenes between the two female leads to completely contrast the sex scenes that happen with male characters. They also serve to further the characters, their motivations, wants, desires, and so on. The scene in Blue is the Warmest Color should have also done that. Instead, we get an acrobatic tour-de-force that feels more tiresome than sexy. It’s clear that Kechiche was making these performers move through the motions for his own enjoyment and not because it served the story. In fact, the women switch positions so frequently, one wonders if either even has time to orgasm.
Critics and viewers have been split on whether this scene is artful or tasteless, but the most important factor is how the two actors felt while filming. The scene took a gruelling ten days to film, and the actors have gone on to speak about the demoralizing conditions on set. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Exarchopoulos said ‘He warned us that we had to trust him—blind trust—and give a lot of ourselves. He was making a movie about passion, so he wanted to have sex scenes, but without choreography—more like special sex scenes. He told us he didn’t want to hide the character’s sexuality because it’s an important part of every relationship. So he asked me if I was ready to make it, and I said, “Yeah, of course!” because I’m young and pretty new to cinema. But once we were on the shoot, I realized that he really wanted us to give him everything. Most people don’t even dare to ask the things that he did, and they’re more respectful—you get reassured during sex scenes, and they’re choreographed, which desexualizes the act.” There is so much that is wrong with how Kechiche approached filming the sex in this movie. Sure, it’s understandable that he wanted the sex to feel real, but throwing the actors, who did not know each other prior to filming, onto a set and telling them to go for it, especially two actors who had no experience with lesbian sex before, is not how you accomplish that. At the end of the day, you want your performers to feel good about the work, you don’t want them going home feeling they’ve been taken advantage of. There’s a lot more to say about the poor way in which sex was filmed in this movie, but we’ll end by saying do better Kechiche!
The scene starts at 34:18
