Abdellatif Kechiche stirs controversy with Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo

The second instalment of the three part Mektoub project from filmmaker Abdellatif Kechiche stirred controversy at the Cannes Film Festival. With critics and audiences alike panning it, Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo's screening saw walkouts for its numerous explicit scenes.

New allegations have come to light from the French media accusing Kechiche of pressurising actors to perform explicit sex scenes. "Kechiche absolutely wanted a non-simulated sex scene, something the actors didn't want to do. But by the way of insistence, and over time and with alcohol being regularly consumed, he managed to get what he wanted," a report read.

Le Figaro, another French media outlet, managed to get hold of an eyewitness from the sets of the film who told them that Kechiche "had the scenes of the disco replayed for hours and hours, exhausting all the actors and the filming was prolonged very late at night."

Kechiche defended himself at a press conference after the controversy. "Not everyone shares the way I look at others. Not everyone likes this or that kind of film for example so, no, it doesn't bother me in the least. If what I see is what I want to see, and if that doesn't appeal to everyone, well, that is very fortunate, it would be a disaster if everyone watched a film in exactly the same way." 

Actors Lea Seydoux and Ad'le Exarchopoulos, who played the leads in the director's Blue Is the Warmest Colour, have previously expressed their discomfort on working with Kechiche in 2013.

Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo is the sequel to Kechiche's Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno, which premiered at the 2017 Venice Film Festival. There is no word on the third and final part of this trilogy.