A hazy shade of Winter

“It is sometimes so bitterly cold in the winter that one says, ‘The cold is too awful for me to care whether summer is coming or not; the harm outdoes the good.’ But with or without our approval, the severe weather does come to an end eventually and one fine morning the wind changes and there is the thaw. When I compare the state of the weather to our state of mind and our circumstances, subject to change and fluctuation like the weather, then I still have some hope that things may get better.”

— Vincent van Gogh, from a letter to Theo van Gogh in August 1879.

It's being one of the coldest winters I can remember. I was used to really cold winters when I lived in the north of my country, years ago, but in this coast these low temperatures are pretty uncommon. Besides that, loads of things happened during holidays... not all of them good. Add to that the exams' stress and other unpleasant stuff. But lately I've been lucky to find some new projects, ideas, do some traveling plans with my friends, and all these things are helping me to find the hope that van Gogh talked about. To find warm feelings in the middle of the cold days. The images above reflect my mood during this time of the year, and "Won't you come home" is the perfect reflection of that new hope and warm feelings I was telling you about. A friend told me that I should listen to it at the end of the day, and he was damn right. Devendra's voice makes you feel like your path in life is gonna be completely smooth from now on. Also, Mazzy Star is always on repeat during my winters. Hope Sandoval's voice and the soft guitars can cure any heartache:

And I found this little short film by Gustav Johansson, and next winter holidays I just want to have an "Everyday" experience. It looks like the perfect way to spend winter days: 

EVERYDAY a film by Gustav Johansson

Hope your winter is going great.

— Mara. 

Ph.: Alexa Chung by Zackery Michael, Antonio Liverani, adieu-tristesse, softredinteriors, Mieke Verbijlen (photos 3, 11, 17), L'Amour l'après-midi (1972), style attitude, Beginners (2010), museedesbeaux-arts, Françoise Hardy, Helene hille Rydén, twistytwirls, death-by-elocution, Jared Leto, disorder-of-nothing, thestorycanresume, Léa Seydoux, the girl who rattled the stars, Iciar J Carrasco, Ana Kraš, Margaret Durow (photos 25, 27), Ana Kraš and Devendra Banhart, youphoric, Melanieherself, Like Crazy (2011). 

La Vie d'Adèle (2013)

 Je m’en allais avec un cœur à qui il manquait 

quelque chose, et qui ne savait pas ce que c’était.

La Vie d'Adèle (Blue is the Warmest Color) is one of the most beautiful, passionate, melancholic and heartbreaking films I've seen in a while. Without a doubt one of my favorite films from 2013. I love its realistic photography and the main character (amazingly and bravely portrayed by the stunning Adèle Exarchopoulos). I felt everything that girl went through. This story is like a journey, a  great coming of age drama. The story of how Adèle searches her own identity and becomes a woman thanks to her relation with another woman, her first big love: Emma (Léa Seydoux, one of my favorite actresses since I saw her in La Belle Personne).

One of the things that stayed with me from this film, besides a lot of emotions, it's how its director, Abdellatif Kechiche chose a place to reflect the passing of time and the changes on the love story, the bench in the park: 

And there is this other brilliant moment, one of the highlights for me, when Adèle dances with joy to The Magician's remix of Lykke Li's I follow rivers, one of my favorite songs. She embodies happiness:

There is a reason for why this film feels so natural: a good portion of the B-roll footage with Exarchopoulos that ended up being used are in fact of the actress when she was out of character. The camera would be on her when she ate and even when she slept on the train while they were on their way to set. Since during this footage people kept calling Exarchopoulos the name Adèle instead of Clementine, they agreed to have the main character's name changed to Adèle. Clementine is the name of the heroine of the graphic novel by Julie Maroh, Le bleu est une couleur chaude (2010), that Kechiche has freely adapted.

(Adèle Exarchopoulos promoting the film)

“It’s just like a passion. It’s just when you love just a person. Not a guy or girl… I don’t know. I can’t express this because it’s hard like to put words on feelings like this when they are so strong but I hope that it will change maybe some mentality and like people can recognize themselves, that it’s really important and it’s the best proud you can have when someone tells you “I recognize myself” or “it makes me think about my story or this story”. — Adèle Exarchopoulos on La vie d'Adèle. 

You can read my complete review of the film (only in Spanish) clicking here:  

Abdellatif Kechiche - La vida de Adèle (2013)

At the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, the film unanimously won the Palme d'Or from the official jury and the FIPRESCI Prize. It is the first film to have the Palme d'Or awarded to both the director and the lead actresses. 

(Seydoux, Kechiche and Exarchopoulos with the Palme d'Or)

Since their winning last May, Exarchopoulos and Seydoux have become an item (tumblr adores them as much as we do), and they've been featured in loads of fashion (they're the face of the Miu Miu Resort 2014) and cinema magazines and everywhere around the internet. So here there is some Adèle & Léa appreciation: