International Film Critique

Use the following format for your international film critique; answers must be typed below the questions and
all questions must appear in full on your final copy. You can use this document as your template. Pay careful
attention to the required number of words for those questions that have them. Failure to follow the
instructions here and on your syllabus will result in a substantially low grade. Minimal answers poorly written
are a D grade or less. Elaboration of points, excellent arguments, and good writing garner higher grades.

Name Kasey Foye Class period/section Monday/Wednesday 1:00-2:20.

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Title of Film Blue Is The Warmest Color

Year of release: 2013
Language of original film: French
Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
Actors: Lea Seydoux, Adele Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechiouche, Aurelien Recoing, Alma
Jodorowsky.

6) Give a brief plot summary {150-250 words. DO NOT plagiarize from the web!]: A young woman
named Adele is ready to fall in love, but she doesn't know where to find said love. She's
been focusing on boys in her school all along - and one in particular named Thomas that
she thinks she likes - but she doesn't know that what she likes is about to come into full
view for her. Adele goes on a few dates with Thomas, and eventually ends up kissing
him... all the while, thinking about a blue haired gal she met on the street. She seems to
not know what's going on with herself, but it's plain to the viewer that she is into females
and not males. She has no chemistry with the Thomas at all, but she's trying to make
herself have chemistry with him. All of Adele's friends talk about this boy that they thinks
she likes, but girls are what she is really interested in... and not until meeting the blue
haired girl does she realize her reality.
7) Analyze the social and philosophical issues the film addresses. Make sure you include the point
of view of the movie, the context of the movie, what audience the movie is targeting, and why.
(i.e. you should address and reflect upon the argument or meaning of the work. This should
be analysis, not just summary of issues in the movie). {at least 500 words}
8) What is your response to the message of the film? Why do you respond this way? Show that you
are thinking about your own thinking here and the biases/assumptions about the world you bring
to your viewing. Did the film change the way you view the subject? Why, or why not? {at least
250 words}
9) What cultural differences did you notice in the film (philosophical outlook, humor, architecture,
customs, clothes, cities, weather, food, music, dancing, lifestyles, etc.)? What did you learn
about history, economics or politics? (There are always differences; look for them). {at least 250
words}
Some cultural differences are as follows; The way people dress in France seems a lot more formal
than what we as Americans would wear. Not necessarily "work formal" or things along that precipice,
but formal in the sense of things that we wouldn't wear on a normal basis (typically.) Many people wore
scarves from what I could tell, and many people wore "nice" jackets as well. Certain scenes had the
characters wearing no heavy clothing (depicting spring maybe?) whereas other scenes had everyone
wearing heavy jackets and scarves, so it's slightly confusing what's going on with the weather in France,
but one could assume that it was later in the day/early in the morning and that is why it was hot/cold (in
their respective natures.) Other customs I could make out were that many people were smoking

cigarettes, as well as trains being a large factor in transportation. Upon meeting with an acquaintance
or friend, kissing them on both cheeks seems to be the normality of greetings. Economic-wise, there
were parades that were student parades that were asking for better attendance fees, as well as talking
about making it easier to get a job. The parade itself didn't have anything to do with the movie (from
what I could tell, so I believe maybe it was just a normal parade in France?)
10) What techniques did the filmmaker use that were different from what you see in the films you
normally watch? Think about lighting, dialogue, atmosphere, setting, music, and how the
filmmaker might play upon your own biases, etc.{150 words} The filmmaker seems to have
posed this movie towards a more realistic/mature audience, by using "cuss" words quite
often, and having scenes of intercouse intermittently throughout the movie. The movie
itself felt like it was real life though, and it was easy to compare/contrast with Adele's
normal everyday tasks. The lighting was not set up at all, although almost every scene in
the movie had natural light, so it made it seem very realistic in that sense. The
atmosphere was that of a normal highschool, where it also showed different parts of
Adele's city. The city itself didn't look too "set up," so I believe that they had filmed the
movie in the midst of normal every goings on. The music was what we normally would
consider "foreign" music, being that of the same nature as most of our "top 100 list of
music" just being in french. The filmmaker played upon biases of typical humans by
stereotyping certain things throughout the movie such as "hard rock bands all have long
hair and scream, I don't like them" - coming from Adele. Most people are in the same boat
as hers, and think the same thing, although as you and I both know... That's not even half
of hard rock and metal.
11) Discuss how what you saw in the film relates to one of the assigned readings or class
discussions we have had. Be specific! {150 words} This film kind of relates to our
sex/gender readings and class discussions in the way of that a lot of people believe
homosexuality is a sin (most christians and some other religions.) This entire film depicts a
young woman realizing she's homosexual; gay, and the hardships she has to go through. We
never really talked about homosexuality in class (yet,) so there's not a lot to relate to,
although we did talk about sex/gender, and I believe that
12) Why do you think I assign an international film?