Blue Is the Warmest Colour

Blue Is the Warmest Colour made history at Cannes this year when its leads, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux, shared the Palme d'Or with director Abdellatif Kechiche. In truth, the two stars might be more deserving of the prize than the filmmaker: it's their astonishing performances that hold this sprawling film together. Over three hours, Kechiche explores the tumultuous relationship between Adèle (Exarchopoulos) and Emma (Seydoux), allowing us an extraordinary sense of intimacy not only through the sex scenes but also through their arguments, laughter, debates and many scenes of eating.

At its best, Blue... throbs with a vivid sense of real life and appears to be propelled forward by its characters' emotions and choices. The experience of watching the film even comes to resemble the feeling of being in love – it's a messy, unpredictable affair that provides both moments of exhilaration and moments of agonising emotional pain – but at the end of it all you'll be glad you experienced it, and it's something you won't soon forget. [Philip Concannon]