Portrait of a Lady on Fire, 2019.
Written and directed by Céline Sciamma.
Starring Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luàna Bajrami, Valeria Golino, Christel Baras, Armande Boulanger, Guy Delamarche and Clément Bouyssou.
SYNOPSIS:
On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is elegant and understated film, with a lot to admire in its nuanced screenplay and stripped-back style.
Its story is simple, with Marianne (Noémie Merlant, Return of the Hero) employed to paint the portrait of Héloïse (Adèle Haenel, 120 BPM) ahead of her proposed wedding – but the conceit is intriguing. Héloïse refuses to sit for the portrait and struggles with her new position in the family, as marriage material, following her sister’s death. Marianne must therefore paint in secret at night and spend her walks as a “companion” with Héloïse, studying her for the project. As the majority of the film explores their growing relationship, it gives room for the characters to breathe. The film is realistic in how it builds things up, even going so far as to tease the audience and Marianne in the build-up to her first meeting with Héloïse, with whispers of “wearing out” the previous painter, whose efforts we see, and a hooded walking cloak shielding her face until it is blown away at the cliffs’ edge. Despite her innate spikiness, Adèle Haenel makes it very difficult not to feel sympathy for a girl whose life’s course has been altered for her.
In among the quietness of A Portrait of a Lady on Fire, all performances are perfectly pitched. It’s finely-tuned, engrossing storytelling and acting. La Comtesse (Valeria Golino, Rain Man, Hot Shots), Héloïse’s mother, is damaged by both her daughters’ unhappiness, but not beyond sympathy. Her vulnerability is apparent, even as she pushes for this unwelcome match, and she bonds with Marianne over the free spirit she herself was never allowed to let loose.
Noémie Merlant is the film’s lynchpin as Marianne, an outsider observing everyone around her. She’s imbued her character with shrewdness and liveliness, and delivers a phenomenal performance that seems totally effortless. Her penchant for befriending brings Sophie (Luàna Bajrami, Happy Birthday) into the story, who represents an interesting straddling of social spheres as a kitchen maid who is drawn into friendship with her new mistress by the artist. Bajrami’s refreshingly unpolished as the young Sophie, whose confidence grows enough to allow her to venture opinions on literature and life. A Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a film that celebrates equality and female comradeship in a man’s world.
Marianne’s keen eye for observation is reflected in the film’s overriding structure, which chooses to reveal information slowly to the audience about characters as they are learning about one another. This is what helps build it into such a tender, slow-burn love story. And observation goes both ways – even for a painter and their subject, as Héloïse points out, revealing her own accurate thoughts on Marianne in one of the most memorable and sweet scenes from the film. There’s also poignant comparison drawn with gaze in the story of Orpheus and Eurydice in the underworld, which comes back particularly neatly to haunt the end of the film.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire’s pared down, natural approach in palette and costume allows for the story, characters and Héloïse’s emerald green portrait dress to do all of the talking. The film also goes for “less is more” on its soundtrack, with great swathes of silence other than dialogue. However, when it’s used, it’s very effective – Vivaldi’s famous ‘Summer’, despite its overwhelming fame, is given a new lease of life as a pivotal character moment for Héloïse, who has never heard this kind of music before. And the choral composition heard at the festival the girls attend, courtesy of Arthur Simonini and Para One, is arguably the film’s most powerful moment.
The only criticism would be a slight lag in pace during the film’s third act, which seems to lose a little momentum and purpose once Marianne and Héloïse express their feelings and begin to explore their relationship with limited time remaining. This development – as well as its inevitability – kills some of the tension that has worked so well in the film up until this point, although the scenes are heart-warming and well-judged rather than titillating. However, after a slight meander, the denouement is then swift, bittersweet and entirely satisfying.
Despite numerous accolades, including Palme D’or, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations, it’s a shame that Portrait of a Lady on Fire has been shut out of the Oscars race for Best International Feature Film, particularly as this female-centric story was also written, directed, produced and features cinematography by women. Writer-director Céline Sciamma’s soulful filmmaking, alongside her whole team, deserves every success it’s had so far.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Tori Brazier
