Adèle is frustrated at first, left cold by the boy that everyone fancies at school (Jeremie Laheurte) and who is – she is surprised to discover – utterly smitten with her. The true drama lies in the yearning between those moments of release. The extraordinary length of these scenes (one runs at around 10 minutes) only inflates that disquieting feeling. Indeed, she is very young and in those intimate scenes, Kechiche's camera lays her bare (along with her co-star Léa Seydoux) with an almost clinical coldness. It turns out this performance actually required a lot of concerted effort because the actress has since publicly accused director Abdellatif Kechiche of pushing her too far. Newcomer Adèle Exarchopoulos is simply stunning as the gauche teenager, also named Adèle, who just so happens to desire other girls and though much of the chatter around this film relates to a couple of prolonged sex scenes, Exarchopoulos carries a whopping three hours of screen time with seemingly natural intensity, devouring every frame. More than just a love story, this Palme d'Or winning French drama depicts a primal hunger - for love, sex and a sense of belonging.