---
title: "Blue Is the Warmest Color"
year: 2013
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/blue-is-the-warmest-color"
fi1m_id: "blue-is-the-warmest-color"
imdb_id: "tt2278871"
tmdb_id: 152584
wikidata_id: "Q11648811"
fi1m_score: 82
critics_score: 86
critics_reviews: 17
published: "2026-09-15"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:37.191944+00:00"
region: "AZ"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013)

Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche · 3h 00m · Romance, Drama

## Identity

Blue Is the Warmest Color

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/blue-is-the-warmest-color
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** blue-is-the-warmest-color
- **IMDb ID:** tt2278871
- **TMDB ID:** 152584
- **Wikidata ID:** Q11648811
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2278871/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/152584, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11648811

**Fi1m score: 82** · Critics 86 from 17 reviews

*In a sentence:* Three hours of first love, and somehow the sex is the bit that needs trimming

> Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux make this three-hour romance worth the commitment. Kechiche’s close attention to everyday life is moving, though the extended sex scenes test the patience his actors have earned.

## Synopsis

Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos) is a high-school student beginning to understand her attraction to women. Her relationship with the older Emma (Léa Seydoux) brings desire into a life still shaped by school and everyday routines. As the two grow closer, differences in their backgrounds sit alongside the excitement of first love. Written by Abdellatif Kechiche and Ghalya Lacroix, and directed by Kechiche, the film follows Adèle’s emotional and sexual awakening, setting the couple’s intimate encounters within the daily life that continues around them.

## Review

*Blue Is the Warmest Colour* is a moving, unusually patient romance, with bedroom scenes that badly need cutting. Abdellatif Kechiche takes three hours to follow a young woman’s first love, making room for the ordinary business that films often remove to reach the next important conversation. School, meals and attraction occupy the same stretch of life. That attention is the film’s chief strength, allowing us to become familiar with Adèle without pretending that we can account for everything she feels.

Adèle Exarchopoulos plays Adèle, a high-school student drawn into a relationship with the older Emma, played by Léa Seydoux. Exarchopoulos makes the familiar uncertainties of growing up feel awkward and unfinished, without offering a tidy explanation for each of them. We felt painfully protective of Adèle. In the close-ups, the uncertainty in her expression makes an ordinary exchange seem capable of doing damage. Kechiche’s screenplay, written with Ghalya Lacroix, is strongest when it allows her feelings to remain unsettled.

Seydoux gives Emma a self-possession that makes Adèle’s uncertainty more visible. The attraction is convincing because the actresses do not seem to be experiencing it in quite the same way. There is room for unequal confidence, and for the class differences that complicate their connection. Seydoux also prevents Emma from becoming simply the person Adèle desires: her performance suggests interests and feelings that Adèle cannot expect to share or fully understand.

Sofian El Fani’s cinematography stays close to the women’s faces, asking us to notice changes that a more hurried film would lose. The closeness works particularly well around the ordinary acts of eating and talking, when a face cannot help giving something away. Julia Lemaire’s production design provides the classrooms and kitchens that keep this romance connected to everyday life. Those spaces matter because the women continue to seem like people with lives to get through, even when desire takes up most of their attention.

The editing, credited to Albertine Lastera, Ghalya Lacroix, Camille Toubkis, Jean-Marie Lengellé and Sophie Brunet, gives these unhurried observations room to accumulate. At 180 minutes, the film asks a considerable amount of an evening, but much of that time helps us understand how thoroughly another person can occupy someone’s thoughts. The looseness suits the performances, allowing hesitations to count. Scenes can continue beyond the information they supply, giving us time to watch how the actresses respond to each other.

The sex is the clearest weakness. Kechiche lingers over bodies with an insistence that becomes distracting, and the scenes supply less understanding of either woman than their duration promises. A film this attentive elsewhere should be able to let an encounter develop without extending it until we start noticing how it has been arranged. Explicitness belongs in a film about desire, but here the staging starts to feel impersonal despite the actresses’ efforts.

Coming-of-age romances often hurry towards a moment when their heroine can explain herself. This one remains absorbing while Adèle is still struggling to do so, and it does not make her uncertainty seem like a problem the screenplay needs to fix. There is enough life in Exarchopoulos’s performance to justify the long stretches spent watching her do little of narrative importance. Set aside the full three hours, with fair warning that the bedroom scenes require some patience.

*Fi1m score 82, published 15 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics respond warmly to this detailed account of first love, with praise centred on the lead performances, especially Adèle Exarchopoulos’s expressive, vulnerable portrayal. The reviews repeatedly credit Kechiche’s attention to ordinary life and the women’s emotional exchanges with making the relationship feel convincing. For many, that accumulation of character and everyday detail sustains the three-hour running time and gives the romance its force.

The disagreement centres on the explicit sex scenes: some critics see an unusually frank treatment of desire, while others find them over-extended or question whose desires they serve. Film Comment challenges the director’s male gaze, while Sight and Sound argues that his approach loses the source graphic novel’s distinctive voice and politics, despite Exarchopoulos’s performance. The consensus is strongly favourable, but these objections go beyond pacing or explicitness to question how the film looks at its central characters.

## Straight answers

**Is Blue Is the Warmest Color worth watching?**

*Blue Is the Warmest Colour* is worth watching for anyone prepared to give three hours to a patient first-love romance, and we scored it 82. Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux carry the film, and Kechiche's attention to meals, classrooms and ordinary talk is what moves us. The extended sex scenes are the weakness, going on well past the point where they tell us anything about either woman.

**How long is Blue Is the Warmest Color, and what is it rated?**

*Blue Is the Warmest Color* runs 3h 00m. It is a romance and drama film.

**Where can I watch Blue Is the Warmest Color in Azerbaijan?**

*Blue Is the Warmest Color* is not on any streaming or rental service in Azerbaijan at the moment. It is available in 23 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Blue Is the Warmest Color, and is it suitable for children?**

*Blue Is the Warmest Colour* is not violent or frightening, but it carries an 18 certificate for extended, explicit sex scenes and is not suitable for children or younger teenagers. Nothing in it is designed to scare. The bedroom scenes are long and graphic enough that the squeamish, or anyone watching in mixed company, should know what they are committing to before pressing play.

**How does Blue Is the Warmest Color compare to Weekend?**

*Blue Is the Warmest Colour* is the larger and more explicit of the two, while [*Weekend*](https://film.one/film/weekend) is the tighter and plainer film. Kechiche spends three hours on a young woman's first love, with long bedroom scenes we felt needed cutting; Haigh follows two men in Nottingham across a single weekend, mostly in conversation, and wastes almost nothing. Choose *Weekend* for economy and *Blue* for the two central performances.

**What should I watch after Blue Is the Warmest Color?**

After *Blue Is the Warmest Color*, try [*Weekend*](https://film.one/film/weekend) (2011, Fi1m 86): Two men talk themselves towards intimacy, with close attention to hesitation and class. Then [*Happy Together*](https://film.one/film/happy-together) (1997, Fi1m 86): For another consuming relationship, filmed with less restraint and a harsher sense of loneliness; and [*Portrait of a Lady on Fire*](https://film.one/film/portrait-of-a-lady-on-fire) (2019, Fi1m 89): A more controlled account of women looking at each other and finding desire.

### Reviews we read (27)

- **Little White Lies**, Sophie Monks Kaufman (5/5/4): Kechiche’s passionate lesbian love story is a screen romance built for the long haul with universal themes. Three hours fly by thanks to the committed performance of Adèle Exarchopoulos in this comprehensive and heartfelt depiction. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/blue-is-the-warmest-colour)
- **Slant Magazine**, Ed Gonzalez (4/4): Kechiche builds the film with sensitivity to emotional nuance and collaboration with the remarkable actresses, capturing the electric connectivity between the two women. The experience resonates universally with anyone who has loved and faced its loss. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/blue-is-the-warmest-color/)
- **Time Out**, Guy Lodge (5/5): It is a minutely detailed, searingly erotic three-hour study of first lesbian love that is the richest film of Kechiche’s career. The freewheeling perspective on young desire finds nuanced drama in maintaining an unfixed sexuality beyond coming-out tropes. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/blue-is-the-warmest-colour)
- **The AV Club**, A.A. Dowd (A-): The beauty of the film lies in dropping viewers onto the emotional wavelength of its heroine through her expressive performance. It is at heart an ordinary coming-of-age romance but benefits from a wealth of character and environment building rather than clichés. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/blue-is-the-warmest-color-1798178429)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film outstanding and passionately praises its evocation of love as cataclysmic and unforgettable. The lead performances are singled out as making other acting look weak. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/21/blue-is-the-warmest-colour-review)
- **Vulture**, David Edelstein (90/100, inferred): It is unlike any love story seen before, with raw, off-beat exchanges and an overwhelming emotional intensity over three hours. The performances convey the cost and vulnerability of putting oneself out there in a relationship. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2013/10/movie-review-blue-is-the-warmest-color.html)
- **Financial Times**, Antonia Quirke (85/100, inferred): The critic finds the film very good and touching, praising its focus on young love and the central performance of Adèle Exarchopoulos for demonstrating how love feels. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/86a0b1cc-52af-11e3-8586-00144feabdc0)
- **The Times** (85/100, inferred): The review highlights the film's rich detail and compassionate meditation on love and loss, praising the lead performance and the immersive quality that makes the three-hour length feel engaging. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/cannes-review-blue-is-the-warmest-colour-lrskf3j3htk)
- **The Telegraph** (80/100, inferred): The review describes the film as mostly tremendous and unmissable, anchored by fiercely committed performances, while noting its explicit elements and some reservations. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/10465082/Blue-is-the-Warmest-Colour-review.html)
- **Evening Standard**, Charlotte O'Sullivan (70/100, inferred): The review notes the film's graphic sex scenes as stirring yet over-extended, while praising the second half for its emotional depth and the lead performances, especially Exarchopoulos's vulnerable portrayal. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/blue-is-the-warmest-colour-film-review-8956193.html)
- **Film Comment**, Amy Taubin (40/100, inferred): The critic discusses the Palme d'Or winner as a coming-of-age lesbian love story but focuses heavily on controversies around its graphic sex scenes and questions the director's male gaze approach to the material. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/cannes-2013-amy-taubin/)
- **Empire**, Ian Freer: The critic describes the film as one of cinema’s most realistic coming-of-age stories and the most moving love story of the year, anchored by natural and committed performances from the leads. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/blue-warmest-colour-review/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Betsy Sharkey: The story traces the full life cycle of a relationship between two women over ten years, emphasizing that sex without love is nothing and life without love is even less. It highlights the exceptional performances of the leads as near-perfect and the film's intimate, elemental look at vulnerability. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-blue-warmest-color-review-20131025-story.html)
- **Screen Daily**: Kechiche hits emotional paydirt with a story spanning several years focusing on a passionate lesbian romance that breaks new ground in uninhibited depiction of sex. The performances are terrific and give the impression of delivering a close approximation of undiluted reality. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/adele-chapters-1-and-2/5056696.article)
- **Sight and Sound**, Sophie Mayer: The film trades the graphic novel's new voice and political implications for the same old male gaze. It praises the central performance of astounding stamina by Adèle Exarchopoulos while noting the story's split into two halves. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/review-blue-warmest-colour)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Jordan Mintzer: The film is a passionate, poignantly handled love story held together by phenomenal turns from the two leads despite its long running time. It explores class differences and the difficulties of sustaining a relationship beyond initial passion. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/blue-is-warmest-color-cannes-527347/)
- **The Independent** (*****): The critic praises Adèle Exarchopoulos as a revelation in her role as a sexually awakened teenager and highlights the film's authentic exploration of modern love, calling it intensely moving and richly detailed. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-bluray-reviews-blue-is-the-warmest-colour-the-hunger-games-catching-fire-inside-no-9-escape-plan-bill-ted-s-excellent-adventure-25th-anniversary-9189539.html)
- **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane: The three-hour character study follows a high-school student's romantic and emotional journey over several years with an older woman. It singles out the film's focus on everyday life, including time in the classroom and kitchen, over the bedroom scenes, and its affecting portrait of longing. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/10/28/new-love)
- **Total Film**, Emma Simmonds: The review calls the film fearless, relatable and beautiful, bestowing epic status on female desire through its intimate close-ups and emotional depth, making it one of the year’s best. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/blue-is-the-warmest-colour-review/)
- **Variety**, Justin Chang: The film is a searingly intimate character study of a French teenager's passionate relationship, marked by explosively graphic lesbian sex scenes and an extreme running time. It praises the galvanizing performances of the leads and the director's raw, sensual approach to life. [Read](https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/cannes-film-review-blue-is-the-warmest-color-1200486043/)
- **Digital Spy**, Stella Papamichael (5/5): The review hails Adèle Exarchopoulos's stunning lead performance as the core of this epic romance about desire and first love, noting how the film powerfully captures the dizzying thrill of young passion despite its length and explicit scenes. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a529191/blue-is-the-warmest-colour-review-adle-exarchopoulos-is-simply-stunning/)
- **The Playlist**, The Playlist Staff (A): The film delivers the most transportative, truthful and sublime movie experience at Cannes, submerging the viewer in the story of a defining first love with unmatched insightfulness and empathy. Exarchopoulos and Seydoux deliver revelatory performances that erase barriers between audience and character in this absolute cinema achievement. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/cannes-review-masterful-blue-is-the-warmest-color-is-the-sublime-story-of-a-transformative-relationship-20130523/)
- **HeyUGuys**, Craig Skinner (4.5/5): The film is an intimate and intense emotional epic that banishes negative connotations of the coming-of-age drama label through its portrayal of a transformative relationship. Committed lead performances, nuanced filmmaking and epic scope make for something extraordinary. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/cannes-2013-blue-is-the-warmest-colour-la-vie-dadele-review/)
- **Eye for Film**, Anne-Katrin Titze (85/100, inferred): Kechiche's vivid film is a commanding painting of passions, relationships and enlightenment that contrasts sharply with Hollywood fare through its attention to everyday details like eating and drinking. The intimate, explicit love scenes and close focus on the lead actresses' expressive faces create a revelatory portrait of love and social difference. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/blue-is-the-warmest-colour-2013-film-review-by-anne-katrin-titze)
- **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (B+): The critic praises the film's intimate portrayal of a young woman's emotional journey in love, highlighting Adèle Exarchopoulos's heartbreaking performance as the standout element that anchors the lengthy narrative. [Read](https://collider.com/blue-is-warmest-color-review/)
- **The Skinny**, Philip Concannon (★★★★): The critic credits the lead actresses' astonishing performances for holding together this sprawling three-hour relationship drama, praising its vivid sense of real life, emotional intimacy and unpredictable messiness akin to being in love. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/blue-is-the-warmest-colour)
- **Paste**, Tim Grierson (9.0): The critic calls it a beautiful, wise, erotic, devastating love story that justifies its length by fully depicting the growth and changes in a relationship over years, singling out the exceptional performances of the two leads for praise. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/blue-is-the-warmest-color-2013-cannes-review)

## Details

- **Director:** Abdellatif Kechiche
- **Director:** Abdellatif Kechiche
- **Screenplay:** Abdellatif Kechiche, Ghalya Lacroix
- **Cinematography:** Sofian El Fani
- **Editor:** Albertine Lastera, Ghalya Lacroix, Camille Toubkis, Jean-Marie Lengellé, Sophie Brunet
- **Production design:** Julia Lemaire
- **Costume design:** Paloma Garcia Martens
- **Producer:** Vincent Maraval, Abdellatif Kechiche, Brahim Chioua
- **Cast:** Léa Seydoux as Emma; Adèle Exarchopoulos as Adèle; Salim Kéchiouche as Samir; Aurélien Recoing as Adèle's Father; Catherine Salée as Adèle's Mother; Benjamin Siksou as Antoine; Mona Walravens as Lise; Alma Jodorowsky as Béatrice
- **Runtime:** 3h 00m
- **First release (France):** 23 May 2013
- **Genres:** Romance, Drama
- **Also in:** [Palme d'Or winners](https://film.one/collections/palme-dor.md) (Winner, 2013)
- **Budget:** $4 million
- **Box office:** $20 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_ekBcdPzIk

## Where to watch in Azerbaijan

Not streaming, renting or buying in Azerbaijan at the last check.

Also available in: AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, DE, DK, ES, FR, GB, IE, IL, KR, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- BAFTA Film Awards 2014: Best Film Not in the English Language (nominated)
- César Award for Best Actress 2014: César Award for Best Actress (nominated)
- César Award for Best Adaptation 2014: César Award for Best Adaptation (nominated)
- César Award for Best Cinematography 2014: César Award for Best Cinematography (nominated)
- César Award for Best Director 2014: César Award for Best Director (nominated)
- César Award for Best Editing 2014: César Award for Best Editing (nominated)
- César Award for Best Female Revelation 2014: César Award for Best Female Revelation (won)
- César Award for Best Film 2014: César Award for Best Film (nominated)
- César Award for Best Sound 2014: César Award for Best Sound (nominated)
- David di Donatello for Best European Film 2014: David di Donatello for Best European Film (nominated)
- GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film – Wide Release 2014: GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film – Wide Release (nominated)
- Goya Award for Best European Film 2014: Goya Award for Best European Film (nominated)
- Independent Spirit Awards 2014: Best Foreign Film (won)
- Lumière Award for Best Female Revelation 2014: Lumière Award for Best Female Revelation (won)
- Polish Academy Award for Best European Film 2014: Polish Academy Award for Best European Film (nominated)
- BIFA for Best Foreign Independent Film 2013: BIFA for Best Foreign Independent Film (won)
- Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Language Film 2013: Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Language Film (won)
- Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer 2013: Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer (won)
- Cannes Film Festival 2013: Palme d'Or (won)
- Dorian Award for LGBTQ Film of the Year 2013: Dorian Award for LGBTQ Film of the Year (won)
- European Film Award for Best Director 2013: European Film Award for Best Director (nominated)
- European Film Award for Best Film 2013: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated)
- FIPRESCI Prize of the Festival de Cannes 2013: FIPRESCI Prize of the Festival de Cannes (won)
- Golden Globes 2013: Best Non-English Language Film (nominated)
- Louis Delluc Prize 2013: Louis Delluc Prize (won)
- National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress 2013: National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress (nominated)
- National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Language Film 2013: National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Language Film (won)
- National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress 2013: National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (nominated)
- Satellite Award for Best Foreign Language Film 2013: Satellite Award for Best Foreign Language Film (nominated)
- Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture 2013: Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *Desert Hearts* (1985): Another lesbian romance that lets attraction develop through conversation and differences in confidence.
- *Weekend* (2011), Fi1m 86: Two men talk themselves towards intimacy, with close attention to hesitation and class. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/weekend.md)
- *Happy Together* (1997), Fi1m 86: For another consuming relationship, filmed with less restraint and a harsher sense of loneliness. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/happy-together.md)
- *Show Me Love* (1998): Teenage lesbian longing in a smaller setting, with embarrassment given its proper weight.
- *Portrait of a Lady on Fire* (2019), Fi1m 89: A more controlled account of women looking at each other and finding desire. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/portrait-of-a-lady-on-fire.md)

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/blue-is-the-warmest-color