‘Blue is the Warmest Color’ author equates film version with porn

Julie Maroh, the French graphic novelist who created “Le Bleu Est une Couleur Chaude,” has said the film version “turned into porn.” The French film, known by the titles “La Vie d’Adèle” and “Blue is the Warmest Color,” won the Palm D’Or at Cannes this week.

When “La Vie d’Adèle” took the top award at Cannes, even jury president Steven Spielberg admitted it might be too explicit for some audiences. The three-hour film, directed by Abdellatif Kechiche and starring Adele Exarchopulos and Lea Seydoux, tells the story of a 15-year-old girl who falls in love with a woman. Its graphic sex scenes have sparked controversy.

“As a feminist and lesbian spectator, I cannot endorse the direction Kechiche took on these matters,” Maroh wrote, the Guardian reports.

“I don’t know the sources of information for the director and the actresses (who are all straight, unless proven otherwise) and I was never consulted upstream,” Maroh continued. The British newspaper translated Maroh’s remarks from a blog post originally written in French. “Maybe there was someone there to awkwardly imitate the possible positions with their hands, and/or to show them some porn of so-called ‘lesbians’ (unfortunately it’s hardly ever actually for a lesbian audience).”

“Because – except for a few passages – this is all that it brings to my mind: a brutal and surgical display, exuberant and cold, of so-called lesbian sex, which turned into porn, and [made] me feel very ill at ease. Especially when, in the middle of a movie theatre, everyone was giggling.”

Would Maroh have objected less if there had been no giggles? Apparently.

“The heteronormative laughed because they don’t understand it and find the scene ridiculous. The gay and queer people laughed because it’s not convincing, and [they] found it ridiculous. And among the only people we didn’t hear giggling were the potential guys [sic] too busy feasting their eyes on an incarnation of their fantasies on screen.”

Maybe she will change her mind. “I’m also looking forward to what other women will think about it. This is simply my personal stance,” she added.

Maroh’s graphic novel “Le Bleu Est une Couleur Chaude” will be published in English as “Blue Angel” in the fall by Arsenal Pulp Press.

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