Blue Is the Warmest Color

Adèle is a teenage schoolgirl in France who begins to question her sexuality after a brief relationship with a boy leaves her unsatisfied. She then meets Emma, an older art student with striking blue hair, and the attraction between them develops into a passionate love affair. As Adèle finishes school and trains as a teacher, she becomes deeply dependent on Emma, who paints her and brings her into a more cultured social circle where Adèle never feels entirely at ease. The relationship is tested by jealousy and by the disapproval of those around them, and Adèle's passage into adulthood is marked by discovery and loss.

The film is directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, who wrote the screenplay with Ghalya Lacroix, and it is based on Julie Maroh's graphic novel Blue. It came after Kechiche's Games of Love and Chance and before the three Mektoub, My Love films, whose later entries appeared in 2018, 2019 and 2025. Adèle Exarchopoulos plays Adèle and Léa Seydoux plays Emma, with supporting roles for Salim Kéchiouche, Aurélien Recoing and Catherine Salée.

Released in 2013, the film runs three hours and was made for about 4 million dollars, going on to earn roughly 20 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.6/10 from around 173,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 7.1/10 from a much smaller pool of about 5,000. A critics' score of 8.2/10 from 204 reviews places it above both audience figures.