Controversy Persists Over Sex Scenes In 'Blue Is The Warmest Colour'

The director of a highly charged lesbian love story that dazzled Cannes said Monday he felt "great regret" at a controversy that has threatened to overshadow the film's rapturous critical reception. Abdellatif Kechiche, director of "Blue is the Warmest Colour", said he did not understand remarks by his leading actresses in a series of interviews, in which Lea Seydoux said that making the film was "horrible" and co-star Adele Exarchopoulos complained that the director's working methods made her "psychologically ill at times". "I find it difficult to explain it to myself, because she (Seydoux) talked about facts that never happened, and impressions that she supposedly experienced but never told me about... each time I talk about this controversy, I feel like I'm facing a court," Kechiche told reporters at the annual Hong Kong French Film Festival. [...]