The Mise-en-Scene of Desire: Class and Sexuality in the Visual Field of Blue Is The Warmest Colour

In this essay I will be arguing that the film Blue is the Warmest Colour1 (from here on called Blue)

directed by Abdellatif Kechiche and released in 2013, is essentially a film about class, and more

specifically, will be arguing that this film critiques class and its relationship to sexuality through the

triangulation of power, object and orifice. Based on the Julie Maroh graphic novel Le Bleu est une

Couleur Chaude2, the film tells the story of Adele as she passes through her romantic relationship with

Emma. Though Ke hi he s fil is te h i all a i te p etatio of Ma oh s g aphi o el, I ill e

thinking how meaning is constructed in the cinematic rendition specifically, with little reference to the

original book. This is for various reasons, most importantly because of the different emphasis and

ea i gs p odu ed i Ke hi he s fil . Though u h of the a ati e has a vague correlation between

ook a d fil , Ke hi he e o st u ts Ma oh s ha a te s ithi a diffe e t iti al la ds ape, o e I

will argue that uses notions of class, and the class distinctions inscribed upon the bodies of Adele and

Emma, as its driving force. The e a e o e ts he lass is i plied a d e tio ed i Ma oh s

graphic novel, however these appear briefly and Kechiche adds to and ignores many scenes the book

p ese ts, adi all alte i g the ook s fa ula a d s uzhet3 construction. I will also be discussing the

film in its specific construction of moving images and the camera gaze, considering the medium of this

piece as well as its subjects.

The film opens with Adele leaving her house to go to her secondary school; this is how the journey

begins. The first lines are spoken off-camera. We hear this first (non-diegetic) line as we watch Adele

1
Julie Maroh, Blue is the Warmest Color (English Language Edition (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2013)
Originally titled La Vie d’Adele, which translates as The Life of Adele. Blue is a French film set in Lille, with my
references to dialogue coming from the English translation off the Artificial Eye DVD release. Adele
Exarchopoulos, who plays Adele, Léa Seydoux, who plays Emma and Abdellatif Kechiche (whom wrote as well
as directed) all e e a a ded the Pal e d O at the Festi al de Ca es i .
2
Literally translates into English as Blue is a Warm Colour.
3
David Bordwell introduces and explains there two terms fully in the chapter Principles of Narration in
Narration in the Fiction Film, 1986, 48-62.

1
enter school, before cutting to reveal the girl who is speaking them (diegetically). The words uttered

a e: Will I al a s disag ee? I thi k so. I possi le ot to. Ideas take hold of me. I am a woman. I tell

sto . The class is reading from a text 4 and though the character of Adele is not personally

speaking these words, they seem to come from her as they begin over her image, to show us as

spectators that it is Adele s sto e a e e te i g. (See Fig 1., 2., 3.) Adele has a brief relationship with

a young man named Thomas before meeting Emma at a gay bar and having a relationship with her.

The film does not indicate an exact time frame for Emma and Adele s relationship but we can assume

it is to be measured in years, as it spans from them studying to both having left education. The film

e ds ith E a a d Adele s eak up. E a o es i to a e elatio ship a d the fil e ds ith

Adele atte di g E a s painting exhibition in a commercial gallery. Both Adele s a d E a s odies

are read as politically inscribed, as well as politically conscious characters. This is highlighted by the

act of protest which both characters a engage with in the film. First Adele is shown at a protest focused

on working class rights (Fig. 10 and 11), and later Adele and Emma attend Gay Pride together.

Ke hi he s de isio to sta ith the a t ess Adele E a hopoulos a tual fi st a e, Adele ea i g

justi e i A a i 5, seems a significant choice designed to represent her character s moral standing,

and describes the actor s relationship to class outside of the film "Actors aren't paid the same as

manual workers. They get the limelight, they stay in fine hotels – built by labourers, serviced by

6
cleaners.

My analysis of Blue is one that argues for understanding the mise en scene in terms of power

articulated through class, sexuality and orifice. By concentrating on the visual domain of this narrative

object I seek to address the issues by way of the following chapter headings: ( 1) Class and Sexuality

as Inscription upon the Lesbian Body,(2) Food as Cultural Signifier and (3) Class and Power in the

4
La Vie De Marianne / The Life of Marianne, the unfinished novel by Pierre de Marivaux, 1727.
5
This is specifically noted within the film during the scene where Adele and Emma first speak to each other at
the bar. See Fig. 12 and 13.
6
Jo atha ‘o e , A dellatif Ke hi he i te ie : Do I eed to e a o a to talk a out lo e et ee
o e ? , The Guardian, October 27, 2013, accessed January 5, 2015,
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/oct/27/abdellatif-kechiche-interview-blue-warmest

2
A tist/Model ‘elatio ship. I stead of thi ki g a out lass as a st u tu e ased on an i di idual s

o eta i o e le el, I ill e usi g Be Da is defi itio p ese ted i his ook 9.5 Theses on Art

and Class he e he des i es lass as i di ati g … a mode of relating to labour and the means of

p odu tio . Middle lass he e indicates having an individual, self-directed relationship to production

rather than administering and maximizing the profit produced by the labour of others (capitalist class)

o selli g o e s la ou po e o ki g lass . 7 Using this paradigm, I will seek to critique and account

for the different ways power is distributed throughout relationships in Blue, specifically between

Adele and Emma.

In chapter one I will explore the effects of class and power on the lesbian body. I will do this by

examining redistributions of power through the elimination and shifting of masculinities, and the

effect this has on class based reading. I will draw from Judith Halberstam s ideas o fe ale

as uli it , ze o/o e ge de d a i s itte a out Lu e I iga a a d “adie Plant and lesbian

od as a ti e politi al su je t dis ussed Ch is “t aa e , a d the essa Les ia s a d Fil Edith

Becker, Michelle Citron, Julia Lesage and B. Ruby Rich.

In chapter two I will argue that class is overdetermined and performed by eating rituals, that the orifice

is a site for class and sexual inscription and that eating and thinking are read as binary positions which

correlate to working and middle class respectively. I will be looking at works by Carolyn Korsmeyer,

Sarah Waters and David E. Sutton, amongst others,

In chapter three I will seek to show the ways in which the relationship between the artist and the

model is underpinned by relationships at class. Of special relevance to this chapter will be the work of

Gregory Scholette and his reading of the artist as subject in capitalist culture.

7
Ben Davis, 9.5 Theses on Art and Class (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2013), 28.

3
Class and Sexuality as Inscription upon the Lesbian Body

In discussions on class told through the narrative of heterosexual relationships gender dynamics are

often dominant and distracting to a class orientated focus. In Blue the lesbian bodies help side step

these inherent power dynamics inscribed onto the male/female bodies in hetero-relationships. I will

argue that the power distribution between men and women is always unbalanced using the

ze o/o e analogies employed by Luce Irigaray and Sadie Plant. Irigara s essay entitled This Sex

Which is Not One opens with Fe ale se ualit has al a s ee o eptualized o the asis of

as uli e pa a ete s. 8
This line quickly encapsulates a traumatic power dynamic between men and

o e he e the e p essio of o e s se ualit , hi h is ofte tied to the od a d pleasu e, is

understood in relationship to masculinity, potentially causing binary positions to gender or

femininity/mas uli it , ith as uli it ei g do i a t, a d fe ale o fe i i it ei g othe ed .

This opening line may also be referred to patriarchal cultures male privileging which reads female

sexuality through a hegemonic male gaze. Irigaray also speaks of woman s ge italia being viewed as

la k , at oph of the se ual o ga 9

, and that lack is then later related to the symbol, place-

holder, non-number … ze o : he od -se . 10

Sadie Plant uses this zero symbol too when discussing

the ultu al i e ualit et ee e a d o e : It takes t o to ake a i a , ut all these pai s

are two of a kind, and the kind is always kind of one. 1 and 0 make another 1. Male and female add

up to man. 11
This ke to des iptio of pat ia h s o uption of the idea of women can help to

explain some of the issues of distortion that may arise when trying to discuss class using a relationship

8
Luce Irigara , This “e Whi h is Not O e. i Writing on the Body; Female Embodiment and Feminist Theory,
ed. Katie Conboy, et al. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), 248.
9
Irigara , This “e Whi h is Not O e , 9.
10
Irigara , This “e Whi h is Not O e , .
11
Sadie Plant, Zeros and Ones: Digital Women and The New Technoculture (London: Forth Estate Limited,
1997), 35.

4
between men and women, and how class situation may ultimately be hijacked as a description of

as uli it , o la k of as uli it i s i ed o a ale od . Fo e a ple, a a of lo e lass status

than a women may be seen as a disempowered male and a man of higher class status than a woman

may be seen as reflecting the patriarchal system which is already in place, often and distressingly

efe ed to as o al . Consequently, when the male-1 is not present, the 0/1 dynamic changes.

Either this is a relationship where zero can exist without 1 or 1 is transferred.12If the idea of the 1

power dynamic is transferred we could use this as lens for a variety of issues, including class, where

Emma can be numbered with this transference of power because of her more privileged class

background. However, this may be overlooking the presence of men operating outside the central

romantic relationship. In Blue men still, in many ways, do represent power and class dynamics.

Joachim, the iggest galle o e i Lille 13

whom Emma wants to impress in Part 2, is male, both

Adele s fathe a d E a s step fathe se u e a d asse t the lass d a i s a d sta le fa il u it

around the dinner table (further discussed in chapter 2), and Thomas represents the pressured

hete ose ual oute fo Adele. Ke hi he atte pts to eate a ge de e ual e i o e t to dis uss

class in his previous film Couscous (2007)14 by constructing a family dynamic which appears to involve

both men and women in a variety of work load facets, both in and out of the domestic setting.

Ho e e , ot o l does this appea ed sha i g ot o plete a idea a out e ualit between men

a d o e , ut o pulso hete ose ualit 15

is a historically violent system that must be read

politi all , espe iall i the fa e of assu ed o alit .

The girl-o ie tated atu e of Adele s se ualit is esta lished ea l o it the fil . Though Adele s s hool

f ie ds p essu e he to e att a ted to a d go out ith Tho as, a o f o s hool, Tho as a d

Adele s elatio ship ulti atel se es to e e t he les ia is . This is told, i a e a, du i g thei

12
If zero can exist without one we may read this symbol as a critical space that can be thought of in other
ways: orifice centric, it is a place holder and a symbol with an inside and an outside, a site of containment.
13
Discussed at 01:55:25 in film.
14
Couscous, DVD, directed by Abdellatif Kechiche (2007; London, UK: Artificial Eye, 2007).
15
Defi itio as des i ed Ad ie e ‘i h i essa Co pulso Hete ose ualit a d Les ia E iste e i
Signs, Vol. 5, No. 4, (1980): 631-660.

5
first conversation on the bus. Though Thomas and Adele are sitting next to each other chatting (this

interaction lasts about 3 minutes), the camera never holds them both in the same shot, either cutting

or moving between one or the other, as if to demonstrate their inability to connect on an intrinsic

level, displaying their physical separation in space. (See examples in Fig. 6 to 9). It is also whilst Adele

is o he a to eet Tho as that she fi st sees E a, as the e ha ge hat e suppose is lo e at

fi st sight .16 Emma interrupts Adele s t aje to ith Tho as i this o e t, a d sets Adele o a e

path. ‘i h des i es the assu ptio s that ost o e ae i atel hete ose ual o that

heterosexuality is atu al as eati g a p ofou d false ess, h po is , a d h ste ia i the

heterosexual dialogue, for every heterosexual relationship is lived in the queasy strobelight of that

lie 17
hi h fi ds u e less o e ps hologi all t apped, t i g to fit mind, spirit, and sexuality

i to a p es i ed s ipt e ause the a ot look e o d the pa a ete s of the a epta le .18 We

a ead Adele s deep t ou le at her lesbian feeli gs I feel like I faki g. Faki g e e thi g 19
she

says to her friend Valentin in the scene immediately after having had sex with Thomas in an attempt

to eradicate or dismiss her sexual attraction towards women This reinforces the way we are shown

se ualit th ough o ifi e a d i s iptio of po e upo the od , as Tho as od holds normality

a d acceptability , as Adele s is to a d asha ed at not wanting to enter this sexual discourse.

The les ia od holds a diffe e t fo of su je ti it tha the hete o o a od , i te s of

gender inscriptions, gender power relationships and sexuality. Chris Straayer argues The les ia s

ph si al/se ual i te a tio s… i sist o a diffe e t p ese e, o e that ope ates outside ale

determination. It is her womanness, not her lesbianism, that confines her within the patriarchal

formation of fe i i it . 20
Here Straayer discusses the effect of the absent physical man in lesbian

16
This is prophesised in the first scene in the classroom where students discuss the concept of love as they
ead f o Pie e de Ma i au s o el La Vie de Marianne. This sets Adele up to fall in love at first sight with
Emma in the narrative – see Fig. 4 and 5
17
‘i h, Co pulso Hete ose ualit , .
18
‘i h, Co pulso Hete ose ualit , .
19
00:23:15
20
Ch is “t aa e , The H potheti al Les ia He oi e i Na ati e Featu e Fil . I Out in Culture; Gay, Lesbian
and Queer Essays in Popular Culture, ed. Corey K. Creekmur et al. (North Carolina: Duke University Press,
1995),57.

6
ph si al/se ual i te a tio s hilst still acknowledging the patriarchal presence that affects women.

The lesbian-bar space in which Emma and Adele first speak reminds us of the absence of the male

body and that masculinity is, as Judith Halberstam lai s, at least i pa t, a o st u tio fe ale-

as well as male- o people. 21

Therefor the absence of the male body does not necessarily correlate

with the absence of masculinity. Due to this absence, class may be better illuminated when power is

not dominantly inscribed upon male bodies, whilst various genders can be assumed by female bodies.

Emma acknowledges some of the ways that lesbian gender deviance plays as she notes Adele s hoi e

of d i k, Bull Dog o Bull d ke ee , a description which Adele clearly does not fit into.. Emma is

p ese ted as o fide t a d i o po ati g a possi l ut h a d fe ale as uli it (told through

shorter hair, clothing, swigging beer from the bottle),. Halbertstam des i es Mas uli it i this

society inevitably conjures up notions of power and legitimacy and privilege; it often symbolically

refers to the power of the state and to uneven distributions of wealth. Masculinity seems to extend

outward into patriarchy and inward into the family; masculinity represents the power of inheritance,

22
the consequence of the traffic in women, and the promise of social privilege. In response to this

analyses of masculinity, e a ead E a s physical masculine traits as woven to her masculinity as

told through the privilege and power of her class. This bar s e e displa s oth the safe spa e fo

lesbians, alongside continuing class, sexuality and gender inscriptions, both upon Emma and Adele

whose t pe , E a des i es as u de age, ha gi g out i a s at ight. o a st aight gi l ho s a

little u ious 23
This i te a tio too defi es E a s po e th ough he esta lish e t of

u de sta di g Adele s type before Adele herself does through lesbian visual body codes. E as

Adamic urge serves to further emphasise her positioning in symbolic masculinity.

21
Judith Halbertstam, Female Masculinity (USA: Duke University Press, 1998), 13.
22
Halberstam, Female Masculinity, 2.
23
Scene beginning at 00:42:41

7
Blue has been viewed as controversial i a a iet of a s 24
due to its use of lesbians as the central

bodies, and claims that the sex scenes were e pli it 25

, pote t a d to id 26
and even most

explosively graphic lesbian sex scenes in recent e o 27

. The sex scenes are a variety of lengths

which are as follows: first sex scene (between Adele and Thomas): 2 minutes 14 seconds28, second sex

scene (between Adele and Emma, as all are after this): 6 minutes 35 seconds29, third sex scene: 40

seconds30, fourth sex scene: 2 minutes 29 seconds31 (most of which is the characters talking after

having sex), and fourth sex scene (as part of scene in café near the end): 1 minute 45 seconds.32

The essay Lesbians and Film by Edith Becker, Michelle Citron, Julia Lesage and B. Ruby Rich, calls

attention to the representation of lesbian bodies, asserting that the ost e pli it isio of les ia is

has been left to pornography…Po og aph o t ols a d uses les ia is defi i g it pu el as a

form of genital sexuality that, in being watched, can thereby be recuperated into male fantasy. As long

as lesbianism remains a component of pornography made by men for men, lesbian sexuality will be

33
received by most sectors of the dominant society as pornography. It is important to take this into

account when recognising that Blue, though not pornography (which I will argue later), is still the

creation of a male director which features nude lesbian sex scenes. This gaze may be read as one

which is partially constructed through the articulation of power in patriarchy. Lesbians and Film

24
‘i ha d B od , The P o le With “e Scenes That A e Too Good, The New Yorker, November 4, 2013,
accessed January 5, 2015,
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/the-problem-with-sex-scenes-that-are-too-good
25
A. O. “ ott, Fo a While, He Life Is You s, New York Times, October 24, 2013, accessed January 5, 2015,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/25/movies/blue-is-the-warmest-color-directed-by-abdellatif-
kechiche.html?pagewanted=all
26
E il G ee house, Did A Di e to Push Too Fa ?, The New Yorker, October 24, 2013, accessed January 5,
2015
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/did-a-director-push-too-far
27
Justi Cha g, Ca es Fil e ie : Blue is the Wa est Colo , Variety, May 22, 2013, accessed January 5,
2015, http://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/cannes-film-review-blue-is-the-warmest-color-1200486043/
28
Considered from 00:20:50 to 00:23:04 in film
29
01:11:32 to 01:18:07
30
01:26:30 to 01:27:50
31
01:33:59 to 01:36:28
32
02:32:45 to 02:34:30
33
Edith Be ke et al., Les ia s a d Fil , in Out In Culture; Gay, Lesbian, and Queer Essays On Popular
Culture, ed. Corey K. Creekmur et al. (North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1995), 27.

8
reminds us that the visual discussion of the lesbian body as a sexual one is the most visible inscription

due to (literally) man-made lesbian-themed pornography34, and Blue is complicit in this inscription and

representation. However, the idea that Blue would be construed as constructed wholly through a

patriarchal gaze or completely problematic due to the difference in gender between director and

subjects works on assumptions that one must be explicitly involved in a particular culture/lifestyle to

discuss it. I reject this notion, and recall how Kechiche himself rhetorically expressed a similar

sentiment in an interview in 2013, Do I need to be a woman, and a lesbian, to talk about love between

women? We're talking about love here – it's a solute, it's os i . 35

I feel that so e ki d of solutio

to this issue would itself become problematic as censorship is often unhelpful to what some view as a

difficulty in vision. E.g. for this film to not centre lesbians in its gaze but i stead a othe hete o

ouple , hi h reinforces the homophobic act of total a se e. 36

another point touched upon in

Lesbians and Film. If we think of pornography as employing e plosi e st le of lighti g, a e a a gle,

a d editi g hi h o st u ts the possi ilit of e oti e jo e t 37

then I would argue the sex scenes

in Blue are more easily likened to E a s ude po t aits of Adele, e oti athe tha po og aphi .

Not shot like pornography, a style that often includes a cinematic language including fast cuts and

edits, lea po e oles, a pe fo ati it of k o i g ess a d pla i g to a e a , i Blue the scenes

are intimate and beautiful, shot like pai ti gs, o s ulptu es 38

similarly to the marble sculpted bodies

in the gallery we see in a previous scene(See Fig 16 – 19), visually relating the bodies in the sex scenes

to the female nude in art (Fig, 20-23). Kechiche creates similarly long, possibly uncomfortable yet

intimate moments in his previous film Couscous; a fa il s o e satio ith u de l i g te sio s, all

34
I ite les ia -the ed po i stead of si pl les ia -po e ause of the e do se e t of the
fetishization of lesbian bodies fucking in this genre usually created by men for men. This hetero male desire for
the idea of les ia is defi itel a p o le . ‘edu i g the les ia odies fo odies hi h a e ot pa t of the
les ia desi e elts the do i to e te tai e t o je ts, the les ia s su je ti it totall edu ed. The
hete o ale s les ia fa tas has d ifted so fa f o hat les ia is ea s to o e that the des iptio
gi l-on-gi l is fa o e app op iate.
35
‘o e , A dellatif Ke hi he i te ie ,
36
Be ke et al., Les ia s a d Fil , .
37
Be ke et al., Les ia s a d Fil , 9.
38
‘o e , A dellatif Ke hi he i te ie ,

9
shot in close up, a young girl erotically dancing between elderly male musicians to distract a public

waiting on food in a restaurant. This cinematic style employed by Kechiche is exciting in its rebellion

to contemporary, mainstream Hollywood where one can often feel overwhelmed by the relentless

pace produced by extreme editing. In contemporary movie culture where this fast style is the norm,

Ke hi he s de isio to take ti e o e s e es is a e a d eautiful. In Blue, unlike a lot of lesbian-

themed porn, the sex scenes feature no phallic object as extension to the female body. This is notable

due to the frequent and somewhat offensive visual sexual trope that lesbians must masculinise their

bodies with a phallic object during sex to complete the act. Blue see s to espe t that les ia s odies

are complete in themselves by showing a pleasure that is not centred on a penis or penis-imitating

object. If this has been the case, we may have read the body with penis as representing a more

powerful position, as we often read the depi tio of hete ose ual lo e aki g th ough its inherent

powe elatio s 39
. Where we assume the male body possesses more power than the female body.

The sex scenes therefore create a zone of equalizing effect. This effect can aid us in viewing the two

main subjects as ones which have eradicated the zero/one gendering body dynamic, allowing better

illumination of class-inscribed bodies as the main reading of power.

Some have claimed that the lesbian sex scenes lack some kind of realistic nature, describing them as

u o i i g 40
. Comments of this nature seem to be forgetting the first sex scene in the film,

between Adele and Thomas, which hardly anybody seems to be concerned with.41 This leads me to

think that the problems arising in one sex scene but not another come from some sort of politically-

correct desire to defend homosexuality by objecting to its representation with one rule, but not

39
Be ke et al., Les ia s a d Fil , -38.
40
Elaine Sciolino (referring to o e t ade autho Julie Ma oh , Darling of Cannes Now at Centre of
Storm The New York Times, June 5, 2013, accessed January 5, 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/movies/julie-maroh-author-of-blue-novel-criticizes-
film.html?pagewanted=all
41
The sex scene between Adele and Thomas is not directly mentioned in The New York Times a ti les “eei g
you Seeing Me Ma ohla Da gis , Jostli g fo Positio i Last Lap at Ca es Ma ohla Da gis Da li g of
Ca es No at Ce te of “to Elai e “ ioli o , Entertainment Weekly a ti le A e the se s e es i Blue Is
the Wa est Colo a tful? O a e the ale gaze po ? O e Glei e a o Variety a ti le Ca es Fil
‘e ie : Blue Is the Wa est Colo Justi Cha g . However, The New Yorker a ti le Ne Lo e A tho
La e does, des i i g the e ou te as sleepi g ith a o .

10
carrying this rule across to other gender/orientation representation. Are there any realistic sex scenes

in film? No. Life is not edited and cut up. Though our eyes blink, looking and cutting in film is always

different to the outside of the cinema. A call for realism and authenticity in film always strikes me as

st a ge. ‘eal life ould e o i g o screen. bell hooks describes films anti-relationship with the

eal i the ope i g page of ‘eel to ‘eal , …gi i g audie es hat is eal is p e isel hat o ies

do not do. They give the reimagined, reinvented version of the real. It may look like something familiar,

but in actuality it is a different universe from the world of the eal. That s hat akes o ies so

42
compelling.

42
bell hooks, Reel to Real (New York: Routledge Classics, 1996), 1.

11
Food as Cultural Signifier

Food is a chief analogy around which various dynamics are able to pivot during Blue. Similarly with

Ke hi he s fil Couscous food and meal times are indicators of domestically intimate family

dynamics and are used as strong class signifiers.

The first time we see Adele with her family they are eating dinner together whilst watching TV.43 This

scene tells us that they are a fairly close family, but that their eating ritual functions differently from

the that of the bourgeois family. Carolyn Korsmeyer, in reference to work by Bourdieu, thinks about

the ways eating differs both physically and socially between the working and bourgeois lass: The

[working class] favours food that is nourishing and filling, bulky, gulpable, massy. The taste of luxury

is for lighter fare, since it need not nourish a body engaged in hard labor. Luxurious taste also puts a

premium on the presentation of dishes and the visual display of a table; it is tolerant of the fiddling

e essa to o su e dai t o ela o ate dishes ithout d i les a d spills. 44

Though at this early

poi t i the fil e ha e ot it essed E a s fa il eati g ituals, e a still e og ise Adele s as

fitti g Ko s e e s des iptio of o ki g lass eati g itual. This initial eating scene opens on Adele,

eyes averted to the TV out of shot, with spaghetti sauce around her mouth (Fig. 23). Afte aski g Ca

I ha e so e o e? , e see the hea , weighty spaghetti as it is dished out by her father (Fig. 24).

This meal time is regarded as casual, not separated from the quotidian through rigorous or imposed

manners. This casual relationship to eating is not dissimilar to when Adele eats with Thomas in the

43
Scene beginning 00:06:00
44
Carolyn Korsmeyer, Making Sense of Taste; Food and Philosophy (New York: Cornell Paperbacks, Cornell
University Press, 1999), 65.

12
next scene (it is during the beginning of this scene that Adele first sees Emma crossing the road.) The

food is bulky and they converse between mouthfuls (Fig. 25).

The two scenes which most clearly cement the difference in class between Adele and Emma are scenes

which have a meal at their dynamic centre. These two scenes connect to each other as they are

similarly structured whilst representing the characters different class backgrounds45. The first takes

pla e he Adele goes to E a s house fo di e ith her parents46 and the second occurs soon

afte he E a goes to Adele s house fo di e ith he pa e ts47. Du i g the s e e at E as

house Adele tries oysters for the first time. In contemporary society, oysters are part of middle class

dining, and the oyster object here represents this to Adele. Part of this class inscription is read through

the ritualization of its consumption, an etiquette Emma must teach to Adele. The oyster too, is

involved with wider lesbian implications. Sarah Wate s lesbian novel Tipping the Velvet opens with

the li e Have you ever tasted a Whitsta le o ste ? 48

and later goes on to describe the oyster as a

real queer fish – o a he, o a she, as uite takes its fa . A egula o phodite, i fa t !49 (In

Tipping The Velvet this particularly line eso ates ith the ha a te Kitt Butle s ge de shifti g. In

Blue this ualit of the o ste a e like ed to Adele s se ual transition). The teaching of the ritual

of how to consume oysters ensues similarly in both Tipping The Velvet and Blue, as one girl intimately

displays the process to the other (in Blue it is obviously Emma that demonstrates this way of eating to

Adele, who likes what she tastes.) The oyster as a sexual innuendo is already woven into the narrative

of Blue from a previous scene, when Emma and Adele eat and talk about food in the park. During this

pa k s e e Adele s se sual elatio ship to food is described as she expresses I eat e e thi g, I ould

eat o stop all da . Whe Adele des i es he dislike fo o ste s, thei te tu e ei g like s ot

E a eplies The e like so ethi g else. This is then followed by Adele asking Emma about her

45
Both scenes consistently use close shots which frame characters faces with the camera either moving or
cutting between Adele, Emma and the parents present.
46
Scene beginning 01:21:16
47
Scene beginning 01;30:41
48
Sarah Waters, Tipping The Velvet, (London: Virago, 1998), 3.
49
Waters, Tipping The Velvet, 49.

13
fi st se ual e pe ie e ith a gi l, ph asi g it: Whe is the fi st ti e that ou tasted…a gi l? 50
, placing

the act of tasting and eating as interchangeable with acts of female sexuality. David. E. Sutton has

described this physical consumption of food as representing a ide so ial dis ou se: Food…is a

pa ti ula l good ou da a ke , pe haps e ause it provides a potent symbol of the ability to

transform the outside into the inside. In more current terminology food is about identity creation and

maintenance, whether that identity be national, ethnic, class or gender- ased. 51

Here Sutton uses

the physical process of eating, the internalizing of an external object, as a way of thinking about how

the body functions as a marker of identities , internal and external. As well as being symbolic of

libidinal desire, oysters have historically spanned both working class and bourgeois eating practices,

ei g ot o l as a a ti le of e essa food, ut as o e of lu u , and ta talizi g the ealth i

52

statel ho es a d sustai i g the poo i et hed slu s i 9th Century New York.53 E a s pa e ts

are shown to be accepting of Emma and Adele s lesbian relationship. This is exemplified by the girls

openly physical affection in the scene. E a s pa e ts, however, express apprehension and

judgement (what we can assume to be based upon ideas su ou di g la k of a itio when Adele

talks of her desire to be a primary school teacher. This is told primarily through an atmosphere that

Kechiche creates through looking and expression. It is only Emma who vocalises this judgement by

suggesting the alte ati e he alte ati e Ma e ou ll go to s hool a d see so ethi g else that

i te ests ou.

During the meal scene at Adele s house 54 ith Adele s pa e ts the food se ed is a spaghetti

bolognaise dish, similar to the one the family are shown to be eating at the beginning of the film. This

is a much more casual dish than the oysters. The food is simply consumed, no one needs a tutorial in

eating. Whe E a tells Adele s pa e ts she is a a tist Adele s dad espo ds ith Li i g off pai ti g

50
Scene beginning 01:06:30
51
David E. Sutton, Remembrance of Repasts; An Anthology of Food and Memory (Oxford: Berg, 2001) 5.
52
Thomas Campbell Eyton, A History of the Oyster and the Oyster Fisheries (London: Voorst, 1858) B.
53
Mark Kurlansky, The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell (New York: Random House, 2007), xvii.
54
Scene beginning 01:30:42

14
is p ett ha d o ada s a d It s i po ta t to ha e a a tisti side, ut ou eed a eal jo too. To

ea a li i g. , e pli itl stati g his dis issal of pai ti g as a thi g o e tha a ho . A ie e

may assume he has arrived at because of its potential financial instability, the efo sho i g Adele s

family dependence on labour which directly effects income. Adele s pa e ts a e ota l so set i

heterosexuality as a standard that they are completely naive to the homosexual nature of Emma and

Adele s elationship, thinking that during their time together Emma has been helping Adele with her

Philosophy studies. This is further established when they ask Emma if she has a boyfriend, to which

she responds to by creating a straight charade. Here class and sexuality form a bind, as an answer

Emma says her boyfriend o ks i usi ess . Not only does this grant safe cover from the possibly

problematic revealing of her lesbianism, it also forms an alibi for her class privilege which is told

through her role as an artist. Whe eas E a s pa e ts uestio Adele s hoi e to e o e a tea he ,

Adele s pa e t s judge pai ti g as unsustainable. Here both sets of parents represent the class each

girl was brought up in through sexuality and eating and the body as site of labour. However, as well as

food granting access to the analysis of social behaviour, it also resonates as the physical oral-centric

activity. The orifice as site of consumption and inscription is further explored by each meal scene being

subsequently followed by a sex scene which, as stated in chapter one, centre pleasure in orifice, not

phallic object or symbol. Eating and sex are not just things we do, but things we are.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder also uses the dinner table to project heightened class distinctions in Fox

and His Friends, 1975. During a scene in Fox55 the working class character of Fox has dinner with the

iddle lass ha a te Euge e, a d Euge e s pa e ts. It is he e that lass is spe ifi all i s i ed o

eating etiquette (or lack thereof), with Fox causing embarrassment to Eugene because he does not

comply to their bourgeois eating rituals. The emphasis on ritualised eating amongst the middle class,

both in Fox and Blue, again recognises class not just as one s monetary wealth (Fox has a lot of money

due to winning the lottery) but regulated through the performance of body and object. As characters,

55
Scene beginning 00:56:00

15
both Fox and Adele are taught these performances, as well as continually being fetishized as bodies.

Fox is recognised as intellectually vacant, his working class body therefore becomes the entirety of his

corporeality. Adele s odil is si ila l su je ted the these i s iptio s, though i stead of this ei g

produced through sex, it is produced through the stilling, muting and containing of her body onto

canvas produced by Emma. Through these constructs imposed upon them, Adele and Fox are further

caught in a double bind: to be bodies which are rendered only as surface, but also to reflect Eugene s

and Emma s egos a d the attempt to ultu all e lighte thei working class partners.

In the second part of Blue56 the parents are absent, as the two girls can now describe class through

the i s iptio upo thei o odies, ithout the e te ded odies of fa il . This is ost ota le

he E a th o s a pa t at hat is o he a d Adele s ho e, a pa t that fu tio s as a showcase

of E a s pai ti gs fo he f ie ds, pai ti gs hi h e hi it a aked Adele. Du i g this s e e Adele

not only cooks all the food (the same bolognaise we have seen twice previously) but also serves the

food and washes the dishes after. Here the middle class crowd unconsciously allow Adele to fulfil the

role of waiter and cook, as Adele too fulfils these tasks seemingly without question. This creates

Adele s od as the site of la ou , ut ot the site of o su ptio , o l ha i g a ess to he produce

after everyone else has eaten (they literally consume the fruits of her labour before she does.) This

displays the unconscious, learnt behaviour both middle and working class perform, and as Sutton

ites: food a hide po e ful ea i gs a d st u tures under the cloak of the mundane and the

uotidia . 57
What Sutton writes here is potent because of the relationship between meaning and the

u da e. The ai issue he looki g at this fa et of this s e e is the so alled o alit ith

which these different power roles are assumed, an expectation which stabilizes the inequality of class

relationships. In this scene Adele is further excluded by Emma and her friends intellectually, via

conversation about art. Food, again, now becomes the site of wider discourse through conversation

whilst eating. Art, in this scene, is used as a language to separate, exclude and exert an understanding

56
Part 2 begins at 01:36:28
57
Sutton Remembrance of Repasts, 3.

16
of something which Adele is specifically uninvolved in. Not only does Adele not understand, she is also

not allowed to understand, as this lack provides power to those who can articulate themselves in their

chosen field.

Adele is once again looked down upon when she tells the guests she is a primary school teacher.

Emma and her friends use their university-educated language to intimidate and distance Adele

i telle tuall , th ough a dis ussio a out Ego “ hiele a d Kli t. This a ises i o e satio as E as

friend tells Adele she is writing her PhD on Egon Schiele. We assume Adele feels out of her depth here,

later saying to E a The see so k o ledgea le. “o ulti ated. I felt u o fo ta le. This

moment, however, also allows us to think about academic relationships to art and artists. One could

a gue Ego “ hiele, a adi al pai te of fe ale a d ale udes58, is possibly intellectually assimilated

by this act of the PhD, and emotionally distanced in its envelope. Adele, in an earlier scene with

Thomas in Part 1 of the film, talks about her dislike for the overanalyses of texts, with a preference for

feeling and emotio al espo se, as she e plai s to hi Whe a tea he akes e o e a al se a ook

o a te t, t i g e e thi g i to the autho s life, it loses off i agi atio . I do t like it. 59
We can

e og ise he e that Adele s elatio ship ith a t is ot ai e she is shown to be an avid and passionate

reader), but her way of reading and understanding is based in feeling and not an intellectual analysis.

This is fu the i plied afte E a s pa t he Adele a d E a a e getti g ead fo ed. E a

pushes Adele to assimilate her writing into the public and intellectual frame work. After Adele says

she has al a s just itte fo self E a espo ds ith it s a sha e to aste ou tale t like

that to hi h Adele the espo ds sa i g I ite hat I feel. I a t e pose life to the o ld. 60

He e e e og ise E a s i a ilit to u de sta d a alue s ste hi h diffe s f o he o

academic one. This dialectical relationship which is presented between emotional and academic

response to the arts is inscribed upon the bodies through their engagement with food. As discussed

58
Ego “ hiele: The ‘adi al Nude Title of e e t e hi itio of Ego “ hiele o k at The Cou tauld Galle ,
October 2014 – 18 January 2015.
59
00:15:18 in film
60
During scene which begins 01:53:58

17
 efo e, Adele s se sual elatio ship ith food a d he od I eat all the ski s , As a kid I e e ate

s a s. I lo ed the is efle ted i he description of her engagement ith a t I write for

self , oth centred on her own bodily relationship with the act, object and consumption. Sutton

explains how this relationship is culturally viewed as a dialectic with the academic or intellectual body:

Pe haps the e is a othe easo that the topic of food is met with such raised eyebrows. That is that

it seems for many in our culture to involve the baser senses, instincts and bodily functions, not suited

fo s hola l o e tal pu suits. As a th opologists ha e argued … the e is a hie archy of the senses

in the dominant cultures of the West that ascribes vision to the more evolved cultures and taste and

s ell to the p i iti e. Food is ot ge e all see as o du i e to thought. It al a s has the

potential, in our puritan-derived culture, to e la elled as a gi i g i to ou p i iti e atu e, the li e

et ee the gou et a d the glutto ei g see as uite thi ; a d the i ju tio do t eat like a

pig a e fou d o the lips of a a pa e t so ializi g thei hild e i to p ope a e s. 61

This

quote correlates with much of the activity produced in this scene. The vision-centric setting, activity

and lens discussed by Emma and her friends (as painters or writers on painters) throws Adele into

othe , he e the iddle-class expresses ith i d , a d Adele, o ki g lass, is o fi ed to od .

61
Sutton Remembrance of Repasts, 4.

18
Class and Power in the Artist/Model Relationship.

In Blue E a s ole as the a tist is used to dis uss a privileged lass a kg ou d. Adele s su se ue t

role as her model becomes part of a dialectical relationship, and is used to describe her working class

body. This Artist/Model relationship of the main characters are set up in Part 1, and go onto become

a main focus of Part 2, the opening shot of Part 2 explicitly demonstrating these roles. A camera moves

over a posed, naked body, slowly until it reveals Emma drawing Adele. What happens in this first

minute is a f ag e tatio a d e o stitutio of Adele s od . The slo , lose, shots of Adele f ag e t

her body, as we move from her toes to her face (Fig, 26 – 29). When we arrive at her face we get a

shot that holds both Adele as model, and Emma as artist in a single shot that separates them through

a deep focus strategy. The camera then changes focus, first Adele is sharp and Emma blurred, then

the reverse (Fig. 30, 31). This visually constructs an alone/together relationship: both parts need the

other, but both also a ti ate diffe e t aspe ts ithi the hole. Adele s od is the e o stituted

oth i E asd a i ga di a e a, oth sho simultaneously (Fig. 32.) These sequence visually

ide tifies E a s od as a a ti e su je t ausi g Adele s od to be transformed into a stilled

object. The working class body thus becomes a material and object to be used by the middle class

body for the high ultu e of pai ti g i a a tisti p a ti e, whilst reaffirming the notion that the

working class body is defined by its physicality, as discussed in chapter two. The a t of pai ti g Adele s

nude body not only allows Emma to have control over her image on canvas, but also commodifies that

image, and its subsequent distribution. Adele is unaware of the presence of her own body image until

it is pointed out E a s e pa t e , Lise. A tist/ odel i Blue is an effective but unusual form of

class positioning, as it has historically been the powerful classes who have been the subjects of the

painted canvas in Western society. Often in Western painting portraits of the ruling class are as much

19
an articulation of ownership as they are facsimiles of their subjects. 62 This role of artist denotes

E a s lass sho i g us that she atte ds u i e sit to stud a t a d does ot necessarily need a

profitable exchange for her labour as she has no other occupation as well as no obvious monetary

income from her paintings (established in Part 1) until the last scene where she has a painting show

in a commercial gallery. Here we may assume her lifestyle, up to that point, is maintained by her

parents. Interestingly, Adele as the signifier of working class (maybe lower middle class) is articulated

as a primary school teacher. Here what were once typical notions of class and labour have been

reversed, or at least shown to have transformed somewhat. Whereas Emma uses her hands to create

he o k, a ph si al la ou of pai ti g a d d a i g, a ess jo a e, Adele is a ultu al a d

immaterial labourer, and though the body is still active as we see her reading and dancing with

hild e , he la o ious p odu t is ot ta gi le. If e look at lass as o e s relation to power, still using

Da is defi itio uoted i i t odu tio , the Adele s jo as a tea he should e e og ised as o e

whi h is still highl u io ised. A tist s u io s, though e ist, see to e spa se ith o l a s all

i o it joi i g to eate s all g oups hi h a ot o pete ith a la ge a t o ld to get e e

basic rights. Maybe this lack of collective organising, with the romantic ideal of the artist as an

i di idual, has eated a e i o e t he e the iddle lass a o e easil adapt i to the A t

Wo ld , ot o l fi a iall ut also ps hologi all . This is considered by Gregory Sholette in his 2011

book Dark Matter; Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture, where he discusses the artist as a

figure which is being assimilated into capitalist and neoliberal (il)logic: Whe it o es to the o es

and shakers of capitalism 2.0, the insubordinate image of the contemporary artist is their sexy

doppelgänger. Forget about the avant-ga de s e o ed defiance, the deregulated economy

ele ates de ia t p a ti es a d e e t i f a es of i d. 63
Here Sholette recognises the

individualistic traits assumed by the idea of the A tist role and body and sees how political structures

62
See for instance Joh Be ge s dis ussio of Gai s o ough s M a d M s A d e s i Episode of the BBC
TV “e ies Wa s of “eei g , first aired 1972.
63
Gregory Sholette, Dark Matter; Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture (London: Pluto Press, 2011),
37.

20
based on the celebration of individualism use it and turn it into its double to represent the same goal

of individualist, capitalist thinking. Sholette then goes onto argue that the A t o ld , to fu tio i

this a e, ust ope ate as a ki d of p a id s he e: …e e as e te p ise ultu e haste s to

assimilate even the most dissident, anti-social, ephemeral activity as a potential source of profit,

something else becomes visible that involves a necessary excess of productivity, and an equally

e essa a t of e pulsio . ... We o e to a fi al e ig a o e i g ultu e u de

64
eoli e alis :

it appears wholly dependent upon the presence/absence of that which it excludes, an ever-present

oversupply of cultural production that is mechanically encircled and expelled, encircled and expelled,

each time leaving a miner trace of ejecta lodged ithi the i stitutio that eje ts it. 65
In both these

quotes Scholette recognises that inclusion can only exist with the exclusion it produces, a necessity in

zero-sum games such as capitalism. This inclusion/exclusion dynamic is used in Blue during the

conversation on Egon Schiele (discussed in chapter 2), where the middle class intellectuals can only

be sure of their ultu al p odu ti it positio i g fo i g it as i a ith Adele s ot

u de sta di g ep ese tati e of the o ki g lass. The last scene of the film takes place in a

commercial art gallery. This type of galle , spe ifi to a selli g of o k, settles E a s pai ti gs as a

lu u good, hose supe io afts a ship o i telle tual p estige i di ates supe io so ial status. 66

as so much art has come to indicate though these socialite spaces. Again, this is a space, and a world,

out of Adele s ea h, i te s of o e , so iall a d he desi e E a is i a elatio ship ith

someone else), but her working class body still sustains it; her nude image still present on a canvas.

There are further implications of this painterly representation when regarding the simultaneous

moving-image mode of image making happening th ough the a e a s age . Both the characters of

Emma and director Kechiche are the ones who are looking, whilst Adele is consistently that which is

looked at. Looking becomes an act of power, transforming whatever its gaze holds into an object,

whether object of painting or object of film, an object inscribed with class and sexuality. Painting and

64
Sholette, Dark Matter, 40.
65
Sholette, Dark Matter, 40.
66
Davis, 9.5 These on Art and Class, 28.

21
film, such vision-centric modes of address, are tangible objects which we are, however, taught not to

touch. They work as frames and sites for the containment of Adele, a characteristic often ascribed to

the female body in art. Lynda Nead analyses the construction of the Female nude in terms of

containment in The Female Nude; Art, Obscenity and Sexuality: The representation of the female

body within the forms and frames of high art is a metaphor for the value and significance of art

generally. It symbolizes the transformation of the base matter of nature into the elevated forms of

culture and the spirit. The female nude can thus be understood as a means of containing femininity

a d fe ale se ualit . If … the fe ale od has ee ega ded as u fo ed, u diffe e tiated atte ,

then the procedures and conventions of high art are one way of controlling this unruly body and

67
placing it within the securing boundaries of aesthetic discourse. Here Nead considers the

transformative effect of art upon the female body it represents. In Blue we can see these how these

fo s of ele atio ae itte i to the lass elatio ships. Adele as a working class body can be

dis ega ded so iall , su h as is dis ussed i hapte du i g E a s pa t , ut a e ele ated o e

it is once it is contained on canvas. Similarly with the issues surrounding the sex scenes (discussed in

chapter one), Adele as a body in motion has been construed as problematic, but once stilled is socially

acceptable, may be hung on a gallery wall and not confined to the rating on a DVD box.68

67
Lynda Nead, The Female Nude; Art, Obscenity and Sexuality (UK: Taylor Francis Ltd, 1992), 1.
68
Blue was rated 18 in the UK and NC-17 in the USA.

22
Conclusion

In conclusion we can see that it is Adele s od that e o es the object of fascination for Emma and

Ke hi he. He atu al look and he untutored a are representative of the ways in which she is

captured both by the diegetic paintings and the film. But this desire to represent produces a distance

through the process of containment and objectification. We seem to be closer to Adele while in fact

we are further away from her, she disappears in her visibility as the artist takes the place of the subject.

Ke hi he s fil , th ough the p o ess of a ki d of self-reflexivity, becomes a portrait of the artist/auto-

portrait, a triad of director, painter and object/subject of the paintings, a mise-en-abyme of

visualisation. In focusing on the power of the visual, the gaze, the body, Kechiche is able to articulate

the deeply ingrained patterns of class relationships in contemporary Europe. In a visual culture that is

obsessed with food and the body, the film is able to inquire into and critique what is often ideologically

articulated as natural. That is to say that in keeping with the structures of domination and the

naturalisation of ideology, we as a culture often fail to see what is blindingly obvious.

23
Bibliography

Books:

Bordwell, David. Narration in the Fiction Film.

London, UK: Routledge, 1986.

Clark, T. J. The Painting of Modern Life; Paris in the Art of Manet and His Followers.

London, UK: Thames Hudson, 1990.

Conboy, Katie, Nadia Medina, and Sarah Stanbury. Writing on the Body; Female embodiment and

Feminist Theory.

New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1997.

Creekmur, Corey K., and Alexander Doty. Out In Culture; Gay, Lesbian, and Queer Essays On Popular

Culture.

USA: Duke University Press, 1995.

Davis, Ben. 9.5 Theses on Art and Class.

Chicago, ILL: Haymarket, 2013.

Eyton, Thomas Campbell. A History of the Oyster and the Oyster Fisheries.

London, UK: Voorst, 1858.

Halberstam, Judith. Female Masculinity.

USA: Duke University Press, 1998.

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hooks, bell. Reel to Real.

New York, USA: Routledge Classics, 1996.

Kurlansky, Mark. The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell

New York, USA: Random House, 2007

Lane, Christina. Femanist Hollywood; From Born in Flames to Point Break.

Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2000.

Maroh, Julie. Blue is the Warmest Color.

Vancouver, Canada: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2013.

Nead, Lynda. The Female Nude: Art, Obscenity and Sexuality.

UK:Taylor Francis Ltd, 1992.

Plant, Sadie. Zeros and Ones; Digital Women and the New Technoculture.

London, UK: Forth Estate Limited, 1997.

Sholette, Gregory. Dark Matter; Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture.

London, UK: Pluto Press, 2011.

Sutton, David E. Rememberence of Repasts; An Anthology of Food and Memory.

Oxford, UK: Berg, 2001.

Waters, Sarah. Tipping the Velvet.

London, UK: Virago, 1998.

Williams, Raymond. Keywords (Flamingo Edition, Revised and Expanded)

25
 London, UK: Fontana Paperbacks, 1983.

Journal Articles:

Rich, Adrienne. Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence. Signs Vol. 5, No. 4, Women: Sex

and Sexuality (Summer, 1980), pp. 631 – 660

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3173834

Online Articles / Reviews

B od , ‘i ha d. The Problem With Sex Scenes That Are Too Good The New Yorker, November 4,

2013. Accessed January 5, 2015.

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/the-problem-with-sex-scenes-that-are-

too-good

Cha g, Justi . Ca es Fil ‘e ie : Blue is the Wa est Colo Variety, May 22, 2013. Accessed

January 5, 2015.

http://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/cannes-film-review-blue-is-the-warmest-color-

1200486043/

Da gis, Ma ohla. Jostli g fo Positio i Last Lap a d Ca es. The New Tork Times, May 23, 2013.

Accessed January 5, 2015.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/movies/many-films-still-in-running-at-cannes-for-

palme-dor.html?pagewanted=all

26
Dargis, Ma ohla. “eei g You “eei g Me; The T ou le With Blue Is the Wa est Colo The New

York Times, October 25, 2013. Accessed January 5, 2015.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/movies/the-trouble-with-blue-is-the-warmest-

color.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&

Glei e a , O e . A e the se s e es i Blue Is the Wa est Colo a tful? O a e the ale gaze

po ? Entertainment Weekly, June 8, 2013. Accessed January 5, 2015.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/06/08/is-blue-is-the-warmest-color-art-or-porn/

G ee house, E il . Did a Di e to Push Too Fa ? The New Yorker, October 24, 2013. Accessed

January 5, 2015.

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/did-a-director-push-too-far

La e, A tho . Ne Lo e. The New Yorker, October 28, 2013. Accessed January 5, 2015.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/10/28/new-love

‘o e , Jo atha . A dellatif Ke hi he i te ie : Do I eed to e a o a to talk about love

et ee o e ? The Guardian, October 27, 2013. Accessed January 5, 2015.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/oct/27/abdellatif-kechiche-interview-blue-warmest

“ ioli o, Elai e. Da li g of Ca es No at Ce te of “to . New York Times, June 5, 2013.

Accessed January 5, 2015.

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film.html?pagewanted=all

“ ott, A. O. Fo a While, He Life Is You s. The New York Times, October 24, 2013. Accessed January

5, 2015.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/25/movies/blue-is-the-warmest-color-directed-by-

abdellatif-kechiche.html?pagewanted=all

27
Exhibitions

Ego “ hiele: The ‘adi al Nude. The Cou tauld I stitute. Lo do , UK. Atte ded De e e ,

2015.

Websites

Official Cannes Film Festival Website: http://www.festival-cannes.com/en.html Last accessed:

January 9, 2015.

Filmography

Blue is the Warmest Colour. DVD. Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche. 2013; London, UK: Artificial Eye,

2014.

Couscous. DVD. Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche. 2007; London, UK: Artificial Eye, 2007.

Fox and His Friends. DVD. Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. 1975; UK: Arrow Films, 2007.

28