It’s been 10 years since Blue is the Warmest Color made its world premiere at Cannes in 2013, and took home the coveted Palme d’Or award. Not to mention its instant impact on sapphic pop culture thanks to its aching love story and super steamy love scenes.
Since its release, it has become increasingly controversial as the actors have shared their experiences on set, particularly in the shooting of those intimate scenes. Both Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux opened up over the years about the difficult working conditions and the “embarrassing” experience of filming.
"The thing is, in France, it's not like in the States," Seydoux told The Daily Beast in 2017. "The director has all the power. When you're an actor in a film in France and you sign the contract, you have to give yourself, and in a way, you're trapped.”
"I didn’t know [Léa] in the beginning," added Exarchopoulos. "And during the first sex scene, I was a little bit ashamed to touch her where I thought I wanted because he didn’t tell us what to do. You’re free, but at the same time you’re embarrassed because I didn’t really know her that well."
Courtesy of Sundance Selects
Seydoux has since clarified that she is proud of the film and her work on it, despite the grueling experience of filming.
Exarchopoulos is also now clarifying her feelings about the film, sharing her “truth.” Speaking to i News, the actor shared that now 10 years later, she feels like the commentary around the sex scene was blown out of proportion.
“I know the truth,” Exarchopoulos said. “I loved this experience. It was hard, it was intense, it was not conventional – but I love [director Abdellatif Kechiche] and his contradictions. We are two wild animals.”
When Blue was filmed it was in the pre-intimacy coordinator era, but the actor shares she still hasn't worked with one on set. “I never experienced [having an intimacy coordinator],” she shared. “But I’ve been in casts, and people speak about the nudity. [They say] ‘It’s OK, you will speak before and you will be accompanied …’ Me, I don’t know this.”
“I think it’s good for the system that there is something [protecting actors]… you can feel free if you feel security,” she added.
Next up for Exarchopoulos is the film Passages, which premiered at SXSW this year, and focuses on a long-term gay couple who becomes involved in a love triangle.
