Back in 2019, one of those films that is hard to get out of your head was among the nominees for the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Céline Sciamma had already been showing brushstrokes of her talent in previous projects such as ‘Tomboy’ or ‘Girlhood’ but it was ‘Portrait of a Woman on Fire’ where she achieved her most rounded work to date. You can see it today in La 2.
Portrait of a love
The story takes us to France, eighteenth century, where Marianne (Noemie Merlant) is commissioned to paint Héloïse’s wedding portrait (Adèle Haenel), a young woman from a wealthy family who is quite reluctant to marry, despite her mother’s insistence. Therefore, Marianne you must photograph her in secretaccompanying her in her day to day trying not to raise suspicions.
Sciamma portrays a time when women were relegated to being muses, sources of artistic inspiration but outside of it. The filmmaker inverts this idea in a subtle way, without Manichaeism or dramatic dramatic twists. He never underlines the speech but elegantly underlies it within the overwhelming love story..
Sciamma achieved something simply miraculous and it is capture in all its nuances something as intangible as love. Starting from a sober visual approach, a romantic story is built where latent feelings are appreciated through looks, gestures, images. We witness the slow evolution of the relationship between these two women, brilliantly performed by wonderful Merlant and Haenel.
Sense and Sensibility
The sensitivity with which Sciamma draws this romance is present in every shot. The filmmaker, in fact, confessed that she felt the need to show another perspective on lesbian relationships because he considers that many films with a similar theme did not fully reflect what a real relationship between women is.
Within the festival trajectory of the feature film, in Cannes it finally won Best Screenplay and the Palm Queer, and also won other awards such as Best Photography at the César Awards. Was the chosen by France to present at the Oscars in 2020along with ‘Les Miserables’ (although finally the one that took the nomination for Foreign Language Film was this second).
‘Portrait of a Woman on Fire’ is possibly one of the most beautiful love stories that cinema has brought us in recent years. With superb direction by Céline Sciamma and two lead actresses in perfect synergy, it is a highly recommended cinematic experience for any movie lover. The film is only available for rent, so its open broadcast is a good opportunity to take a look at it if you haven’t had the chance yet.