Idaho Bans 'Blue is the Warmest Color'

In an insane but unsurprising turn of events, the controversial and critically acclaimed Palme D'Or winner Blue Is the Warmest Color has been banned in Idaho because of a liquor law. The French romantic drama's racy portrayal of a passionate, sexually charged relationship between two women has faced several distribution roadblocks, including its limiting NC-17 rating and arthouse status, but with the exception of Idaho, is set for release on October 25 throughout the United States.

So how did Blue end up banned in Idaho? Flicks, the only movie theater in the state that shows foreign and arthouse films, is legally prohibited from showing the film because its liquor license is tied to Idaho Code 23-614, which prohibits films featuring "acts or simulated acts of sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation or any sexual acts which are prohibited by law" and "any person being touched, caressed or fondled on the breast, buttocks, anus or genitals" from being screened.

In other words, Idaho has no problem with moviegoers getting wasted in a theater so long as they aren't watching any kind of sex, simulated or otherwise. Needless to say, a film about a 15-year-old girl's extremely explicit sexual awakening when she finds a blue-haired love interest just doesn't fly in the potato capital of America.

We're thinking this ban is the best thing that happened to Blue – people love watching what they can't see, so we wouldn't be surprised if Idahoans start flooding arthouse movie theaters all over Nevada and Oregon.