A film featuring the love story between two women, and which has shocked some critics because of some graphic sex scenes, is hotly tipped to receive the top prize at the Cannes film festival.

As the festival draws to a close, bookmakers have named Blue is the Warmest Colour, as the favourite to win the Palme d’Or prize, which will be announced on Sunday.

The film, directed by Tunisian-born French director Abdellatif Kechiche, contains some graphic scenes, and some reviewers have noted that it may need to be edited, in order to be widely distributed for cinema showings.

It centres around 15-year-old character Adele, played by Adele Exarchopoulos, and her lover Emma, who is played by Lea Seydoux.

Kechiche said he would consider cutting some scenes, in order to have the film seen by as wide an audience as possible.

“We wouldn’t want the film not to be screened because of one scene,” he said. “But of course that wouldn’t apply if it were the whole thing.”

The film was described by the Hollywood Reporter as a “sprawling drama”, which would “raise eyebrows”, for crossing the line “between performance and the real deal”.

Variety magazine said that the film contained “the most explosively graphic lesbian sex scenes in recent memory.”