Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu)
Directed by Céline Sciamma
France | 2019 | Fiction | 121 min
French w/ English subtitles
Film Source: Neon
Awards/premier festivals: Cannes Festival 2019 – Best script award.
Sponsors: Barbara Zucker | Barbara Perry | Judy Gerber
* Portrait is one of three films selected by the Film and Media Culture Department at Middlebury College in partnership with VTIFF to screen in the Hirschfield International Film Series.
In 18th century France, a young painter, Marianne, is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Héloïse without her knowing. Therefore, Marianne must observe her model by day to paint her portrait at night. Day by day, at a slow, caressing pace, the two women become closer as they share Héloïse’s last moments of freedom before the impending wedding. While the artist in the film is not based on any specific historical character, it is inspired by centuries of female artists who were overwritten and/or erased by their male contemporaries. The ravishing cinematography and lighting and the mesmerizing acting of the two women create an intense and sensual mood. The films of director Céline Sciamma (Tomboy; Girlhood) share a common theme of the fluidity of gender and sexual identity among young women. Here she has created a profoundly erotic film about the process of self-discovery and becoming. ~OY