Original title: Portrait de la jeune fille en feu
Director: Céline Sciamma
Cast: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel)
France 2019 | 119 mins
Avaliable on: DVD
Romance and art entwine in Portrait of a Lady on Fire, a sumptuous masterpiece from Céline Sciamma (Tomboy, Girlhood).
Set in late 18th century France, painter Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is commissioned by an affluent countess to paint the wedding portrait of her sheltered but headstrong daughter Héloïse (Adèle Haenel), in the hope it will find her a wealthy husband.
While posing as her hired companion, Marianne is instructed to complete the portrait in secret, observing Héloïse by day and painting her by night. However, as the two women grow closer, their intimacy and attraction begins to blossom, paving the way for a simmering, star-crossed romance.
A heartbreaking period piece told with a distinctly modern feminist energy, Portrait of a Lady on Fire is the first female-directed film to win the Queer Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, where it also won the Best Screenplay award.