Books and Arts; Film Review;The Cannes film festival; Subtle story;

Abdellatif Kechiche's film, “La vie d'Adele”, carries off the top prize;

At A time of national collective depression in France, the Cannes film festival is a precious moment: an occasion to show the world that it can still host the most prestigious film festival, throw star-studded parties and draw the best Hollywood talent. Over the years, Cannes has also become a chance for the industry to make a point, and it was easy to see one in this year's winner of the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize. It went to “La vie d'Adele” (“Blue is the Warmest Colour”), a three-hour erotic lesbian drama directed by a Tunisian-born director, Abdellatif Kechiche. “A perfect symbol,” mused Libération.

Adele, a pupil at a multicultural school in Lille, wants to become a teacher. Played by the 19-year-old Adele Exarchopoulos, an acting revelation, she is thrown into disarray, then ecstasy, then melancholy by an explosive love affair with Emma (Léa Seydoux), an art student from a liberal-intellectual milieu, with gamine looks and blue-dyed hair. It is an unsentimental coming-of-age film about womanhood, a tale of passion and anger, and an unapologetically graphic love story.

Steven Spielberg, an American director and this year's jury president, dismissed any political symbolism. “Politics”, he said, “was not in the room with us.” Yet the Palme d'Or was awarded on a day when protesters took to the streets in Paris for a mass demonstration against a new law that has legalised gay marriage in France, and after a period marked by homophobic violence. By exploring a love affair between two women, the Franco-Tunisian Mr Kechiche has also made a bold point about female liberty. And he dedicated his prize to youth in both France and Tunisia, “so as to inspire them to live in freedom.”

Does Cannes need to shock? Past juries have delighted in making mischievous political choices. When Michael Moore won the 2004 prize for “Fahrenheit 9/11”, his anti-George Bush documentary, he got a 20-minute standing ovation. In recent years, the gong has often gone to films that grasp nettlesome subjects, such as Cristian Mungiu's “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” (abortion) or Ken Loach's “The Wind that Shakes the Barley” (Irish independence).

Yet, judging by the near-unanimous critical approval, “Adele” has married both political importance and artistic merit. Libération called it “dazzling”, a “film that floated above all the others”. Le Monde described it as “an emotional, erotic shock”. Variety labelled it “a searingly intimate character study”. Better known for his gritty but charming dramas set in heavily immigrant France (“L'Esquive”, “La Graine et le Mulet”), Mr Kechiche's latest film is also in many ways a product of the French mainstream: a risqué movie, shot in close-up, celebrating independence and passion, starring two white leading actresses, and with minorities as mere extras. For all his north African sensibility, Mr Kechiche now looks every bit a part of the French film-making establishment.