Portrait of a Lady on Fire

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.