Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Living… in northern France. Adele lives in a conservative, lower-middle-class family household. As a teenager, she is dealing with all the emotional complexities of trying to pass through all the sexual awkwardness of young adulthood and puberty. And like most teenagers, she doesn’t feel that her parents understand her at all.
Profession… high school student. At Adele’s high school, most girls she knows are obsessed with gossiping, boys and sex. Under pressure from her friends to lose her virginity, Adele started to date a fellow boy student and see what sex was all about. But Adele’s first experience wasn’t something that excited her. Even though the boy was deeply infatuated with her, she could care less. As she says, "He's not the problem. I'm missing something. I'm all messed up. I'm crazy."
Interests… eating. Adele thoroughly enjoys food– especially her father’s spaghetti and oysters. And she has a love of philosophy and art.
Relationship Status… involved with a blue-haired older woman named Emma. Ever since Adele got a glimpse of Emma on a street, she had been fantasizing about her even though she didn’t even know her name at that point. And then one day, her curiosity about her own sexuality led her to a gay bar where she got to finally meet the woman of her dreams. The two share an intense chemistry– in and out of the bedroom.
Challenge… dealing with all the issues of first love. But for Adele and Emma, it’s even more complicated. Emma is openly gay, but Adele has not come out to her family and friends. And Adele and Emma also have very different family backgrounds – Emma is from a wealthier and much more intellectual family than Adele. Despite these differences, Adele truly loves Emma. As she says to her, “I have infinite tenderness for you. I always will. My whole life.”
Personality… quiet yet passionate, soft spoken yet brimming with emotion, and incredibly well read and brilliant. When you first meet her, you may mistake her for just a normal and reserved teenage girl. But as you get to know her, you realize how extraordinary she really is.
Get to Know her in...
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Adele's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who helps her discover her sexuality and independence. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself, finds herself.
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A New York Times bestseller The original graphic novel adapted into the film Blue Is the Warmest Color, winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival In this tender, bittersweet, full-color graphic novel, a young woman named Clementine discovers herself and the elusive magic of love when she meets a confident blue-haired girl named Emma: a lesbian love story for the ages that bristles with the energy of youth and rebellion and the eternal light of desire. First published in France by Glénat, the book has won several awards, including the Audience Prize at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, Europe's largest. The live-action, French-language film version of the book, entitled Blue Is the Warmest Color, won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2013. Directed by director Abdellatif Kechiche and starring Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos, the film generated both wide praise and controversy. It will be released in the US through Sundance Selects/IFC Films. Julie Maroh is an author and illustrator originally from northern France. "Julie Maroh, who was just 19 when she started the comic, manages to convey the excitement, terror, and obsession of young love—and to show how wildly teenagers swing from one extreme emotion to the next ... Ultimately, Blue Is the Warmest Color is a sad story about loss and heartbreak, but while Emma and Clementine’s love lasts, it’s exhilarating and sustaining." —Slate.com "A beautiful, moving graphic novel." —Wall Street Journal "Blue Is the Warmest Color captures the entire life of a relationship in affecting and honest style." —Comics Worth Reading "Delicate linework conveys wordless longing in this graphic novel about a lesbian relationship." —New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice) "A tragic yet beautifully wrought graphic novel." —Salon.com "Love is a beautiful punishment in Maroh’s paean to confusion, passion, and discovery ... An elegantly impassioned love story." —Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW) "A lovely and wholehearted coming-out story ... the illustrations are infused with genuine, raw feeling. Wide-eyed Clementine wears every emotion on her sleeve, and teens will understand her journey perfectly." —Kirkus Reviews "The electric emotions of falling in love and the difficult process of self-acceptance will resonate with all readers ... Maroh’s use of color is deliberate enough to be eye-catching in a world of grey tones, with Emma’s bright blue hair capturing Clementine’s imagination, but is used sparingly enough that it supports and blends naturally with the story." —Library Journal (STARRED REVIEW) "It's not just the French who have a better handle on sexy material than Americans -- Canadians do, too ... Who's publishing it? Not an American publishing house but by Arsenal Pulp Press, a Canadian independent." —Los Angeles Times
