Disclaimer: Some of the content in the video alludes to graphic sexual acts. Watch at your own discretion.
Since winning the Palme D’Or at the latest iteration of the Cannes Film Festival, Blue is the Warmest Color has drawn mixed criticism. While many praise the film’s honesty in portraying a lesbian relationship, others have declared the 3-hour film indulgent.
Perhaps the one thing that gives this latter claim some legitimacy is the film's 7-minute sex scene, which director Abdellatif Kechiche filmed over the course of 10 days. The scene—bright and picturesque—has drawn criticism for perpetuating "the male gaze," the theory that women are portrayed in film and art by and for male consumption.
As such, Posture Magazine played the scene to actual lesbians, those who would know best. This was their reaction.
Some of the best reactions (besides the confused faces and giggles):
“It’s really geometric.”
“It started to feel kind of like an infomercial for a kitchen product, where they’re trying to showcase all the things it can do.”
“I think it was also pretty obviously two straight women attempting to have sex on camera for pay. Go figure. Yeah, I haven’t seen that one before.”
Similar sentiments were experess by Julie Maroh, the author of the graphic novel Le Bleu Est une Couleur Chaude, which served as the film's source material. In a piece for The New York Times, Maroh wrote, “This is what was missing on the set: lesbians.”
Pieces in Salon and the aforementioned The New York Times have also argued how evident the male gaze is felt through the film.
Not that one scene should discount the entirety of a movie, but it's a really important way of looking at the debate.