Abdellatif Kechiche sparks controversy with 'Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo'

Filmmaker Abdellatif Kechiche is once again at the receiving end of critics and the audiences at the Cannes Film Festival for his film "Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo", which sparked walkouts and major uproar over its explicit scenes.

And now a report in French media has revealed that the 58-year-old director pressured his film's lead actors to perform those scenes.

A report by French outlet Midi Libre claimed that Kechiche pressured the actors to engage in 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 tweet translating the report read.

Another French outlet, Le Figaro, managed to get hold of an eyewitness from the film's set who told them that the director "had the scenes of the disco replay for hours and hours, exhausting all the actors and the filming was prolonged very late at night".

Kechiche had defended the film at a press conference after the backlash.

"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," he had said.

This is not the first time that Kechiche's working method has attracted criticism.

Actors Lea Seydoux and Adle Exarchopoulos, the stars of "Blue Is the Warmest Colour", which earned Kechiche the Palme d'Or trophy, had detailed their harrowing experience of working with the director 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.