‘Blue is the Warmest Color’ Controversy, Highest Prize At Cannes

Blue is the Warmest Color won the highest prize at the Cannes Film Festival, receiving praise for Director Abdellatif Kechiche and the lead French actresses, who play a lesbian couple. Newcomer Adele Exarchopoulos is just 19, and you may recognize Lea Seydoux from Mission Impossible and Midnight in Paris. Aside from receiving the coveted Golden Palm (Palme d'Or) award, the French film is receiving buzz for its explicit, long love scenes, which gave it a NC-17 rating.

The Associated Press gives Exarchopoulos' take on the hype over the sex scenes. "Usually in a movie you have two minutes, beautiful and sexy positions with nice lighting and nice music," Exarchopoulos said. "Our scenes are more like life. But I do think people reduce the movie too much to these scenes."

The AP reports that actress Lea Seydoux had a different view of the filming. In an interview, Seydoux remarked that director Kechiche made her "feel like a prostitute." In response the director spontaneously told a British newspaper maybe the film shouldn't come out at all. "It wasn't more thought out than that," Kechiche said of the incident. "But now, when I feel bitter, I remember that the film did after all get the Palme d'Or -- and from a mythical director, Steven Spielberg," he added.

The film is based on Julie Maroh's novel The Blue Angel, which has won several awards since its 2010 release. There is a 2013 English version under Arsenal Pulp Press. Maroh herself first started writing the novel at the early age of 19.

Will you be seeing the film?