Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Debuting at Cannes Film Festival last year, Portrait of a Lady on Fire was one of many highly anticipated movies. Yet with a limited release here in the UK (select cinemas on the 28thof February) and with the unforeseen closure of well…the whole country, Celine Sciamma’s acclaimed love story has made it’s early premiere on streaming service MUBI, and let me tell you it’s a film for the ages.

Set on an isolated island in Brittany, France, Marianne (Noemie Merlant) has been commissioned to paint a portrait of a young woman named Heloise (Adele Haenel) who is set to be married to a nobleman from Milan. Heloise begins as a mystery to Marianne and the audience as she refuses to pose for portraits due to her anger at being forced to marry after her sister’s suicide. So with this in mind, Marianne is disguised as Heloise’s walking companion, who will need to paint her in secret by memorising her features on their daily walks. When Heloise is finally introduced to us, she is standoffish, her anger resonating with everyone she talks to. But we can see in Heloise’s eyes and expression that Marianne may be different, so whilst Marianne gazes at Heloise to memorize her characteristics, Heloise is doing her own studying of the painter.

Set on one small island, with only four titled characters, you would expect this leading duo to share more time with one another in the first portion of this film. But instead their brief time together is setting up for something greater in the second half when those looks start to become slightly longer and moderately tenser. We know mostly what Heloise is thinking when she shares those moments on screen with Marianne but Marianne’s focus on her work is made clear when speaking to the maid Sophie (Luana Bajrami) and Heloise’s mother, The Countess (Valeria Golino).

But an unspoken connection becomes more evident resulting in Marianne telling Heloise the truth of her reason for arriving, causing both of them to unravel deeper feelings. The connection is not the only unspoken element of this film – with no score, there is no music to represent the feelings of both of these characters. Everything is said within the rhythm of their movement and looks. Everything is left unspoken and yet everything is made perfectly clear. You know exactly what their gazes and turns away represent, when they both knew their true feelings for one another and for when they realised that their love is forbidden and soon coming to a conclusive end.

Many people may be surprised with no music to this film, but the waves of the ocean and the crackles of the fire late at night is enough to build an atmosphere. No score may feel different but it’s one of many elements that make this film feel so revolutionary. All the paintings made by Marianne were actually created by painter Helene Delmaire who painted 16 hours every day during the course of filming, basing her painting on the blocking of scenes. Sciamma also decided to shoot the film in 8K, wanting the film to feel contemporary and still capture the range of colours within each frame. Any film fan should know that most people will always tell you to avoid 4K let along 8K. Yet this is one of the finest looking films I’ve ever seen, some staged shots are the best work this century and even the simple reaction shots still have immense detail to them. Celine Sciamma has shown with Portrait of a Lady on Fire not to always listen to what your peers may say, and to do whatever you damn well please.

This is a stunning piece of work. As soon as I finished watching it, I wanted to watch again. A fascinating and heart-breaking look into the revelation of love, with the importance of gaze and youth derived from the story of Orpheus and Eurydice itself.

Available with a subscription here: https://mubi.com/showing