What was already a rather convoluted continuing saga of the immensely controversial Blue Is the Warmest Color just got a lot weirder. According to an interview he gave with the French publication Telerama, director Abdellatif Kechiche now believes his Cannes Film Festival-winning feature shouldn’t even be released, nevermind any questions as to the NC-17 rating it was strapped with.

“I think this film should not go out, it was too dirty,” said Kechiche of his picture, which includes a lengthy sex scene. The director himself has been accused of exploiting his young actresses Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos, both in the way the scene is shot and with regards to the reportedly, shall we say, rigorous working conditions on set. “The Palme d’Or was a brief moment of happiness,” Kechiche goes on to say, “then I felt humiliated, disgraced.”

From left to right: director Abdellatif Kechiche and stars Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux, with the Palme d’Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

This comes not a week after the first U.S. trailer for the film was released. The trailer itself seems very conscious of the film’s public image as something of questionable taste (an image not likely to be helped by Kechiche’s comments), focusing its attention on defining the movie as a relationship drama that takes place every bit as much outside the bedroom as in it, with only fleeting hints and the sexual content that earned the film such a restrictive rating. Also prominent are glowing quotes by critics and filmmakers, led by a particularly supportive line by Steven Spielberg, who chaired the jury which awarded Blue its Cannes prize. “Magnificent,” opines Spielberg in the trailer, “we were under the spell of the film and its wonderful actresses.”

Whether Kechiche likes it or not, it would appear that Blue is headed toward its (albeit quite limited) release. Courtesy of Sundance Selects, it will see a limited theatrical run starting October 25. See the trailer below: