Adele Exarchopoulos says LGBTQ+ community’s Blue is the Warmest Colour complaints were ‘stupid’

Adèle Exarchopoulos has reflected on “stupid” complaints over her casting in lesbian drama Blue is the Warmest Colour.

French actor Exarchopoulos starred alongsaide Léa Seydoux in the 2013 drama, which depicted the love affair between two young women.

Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, the film garnered criticism at the time of its release, with the LGBTQ+ community complaining about the unrealistic sex scenes, as well as claiming that Exarchopoulos and Seydoux should not have starred in the film as they are straight.

Exarchopoulos hit out at this suggestion in a new interview while promoting her new drama Passages, which she stars in alongside Franz Rogowski and Ben Whishaw.

“I was young – I was 18 when I went to Cannes,” she told the Los Angeles Times, adding that LGBTQ+ viewers said at the time: “We don’t have sex like this.”

She added: “But this is a movie about first desire – a first love story.

”I think, in my small experience, there [is] one language that is unique – how you have sex with someone. So, for me, it was really stupid. I didn’t really see the [argument].”

The Independent has contacted Exarchopoulos for comment.

In 2013, Exarchopoulos and Seydoux described their experience working on the film as “horrible”, with Exarchopoulos later brushing off the criticism as “not as big as it looks”.

She corroborated this stance in the new interview, telling the outlet that she recently “spoke a lot about stuff that we never dare to before” after a chance meeting in a cafe within the last year.

When asked what they spoke about, Exarchopoulos said: “I don’t know, feelings or regrets. It’s hard to explain such an intimate link with someone, but I will always have a lot of tenderness for people that were part of Blue Is the Warmest Colour. I have no regrets about the movie.

She continued: “There was all this context of the movie and all the troubles after. But when you live something really deep and powerful with someone – even if you don’t see them each month or each year – you will always have this feeling of familiarity.”

Passages, directed by Ira Sachs, will be released in the UK and Ireland on 1 September.