Writer/Director Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on
Fire is a haunting romantic drama in which, thanks to Cinematographer
Claire Mathon, almost every frame is a lush work of art.
In the late 17-hundreds, when women had few rights and had to
“marry-up” to find a fortunate life, Héloise (Adèle Haenel) is taken from her
convent school in Brittany, France to marry a man in the place of her sister,
who has recently committed suicide.
Her mother (Valeria Golino) has commissioned Marianne (Noémie
Merlant), a painter, to do a marriage portrait of the reluctant Héloise, who
has already refused to sit for another painter.
Marianne is, therefore, under the guise of a companion and works on the
portrait at night. But, gradually, the relationship between the two women
evolves into one of passion.
Sciamma, masterfully, develops the connection, allowing each
of the women to alternate between being the dominant weaver of the
relationship, which can only exist until the portrait is finished.
This film is truly outstanding. It’s only “flaw” is that some
of the key scenes are not longer.
This audience member wanted even more and gives Portrait
of a Lady on Fire a 4.9 out of 5.
P.S.: I would have given it the extra .1, but I was disappointed
Sciamma did not bring back at the end of this flashback drama the painting of
the lady on fire with which it began.
