Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
(Portrait de la jeune fille en feu)
Country: FR
Technical: col 122m
Director: Céline Sciamma
Cast: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luána Bajrami, Valeria Golino
Synopsis:
In eighteenth-century Brittany a female painter is hired to paint a bridal portrait of a reluctant subject, and must do so in secret. But irresistible feelings of complicity make a second portrait necessary, one based on mutual trust and sacrifice.
Review:
A stunning portrayal of passion and the power of art to embody and evoke private feelings. The mise-en-scène is perhaps a little too stripped back, suggestive of an underdressed empty property hired for the occasion, but this somehow fits the material, which is just these three women alone in their extremity, bound by time and place. The film makes use of the legend of Orpheus, with the idea that it is the lovers' fate to be apart, for that immortalises their love. The treatment of lesbian sex for the camera is noteworthy, both in what it shows and does not show: a breast is simply a breast, not an object of desire to be unveiled for our (male viewer's) arousal; sex itself is off-camera, which is arguably an evasion. The acting of looking is key, of course, and there are plentiful shots of pregnant (female) gazes. And yet the kiss is unavoidable, and packs a potent erotic charge.
(Portrait de la jeune fille en feu)
Country: FR
Technical: col 122m
Director: Céline Sciamma
Cast: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luána Bajrami, Valeria Golino
Synopsis:
In eighteenth-century Brittany a female painter is hired to paint a bridal portrait of a reluctant subject, and must do so in secret. But irresistible feelings of complicity make a second portrait necessary, one based on mutual trust and sacrifice.
Review:
A stunning portrayal of passion and the power of art to embody and evoke private feelings. The mise-en-scène is perhaps a little too stripped back, suggestive of an underdressed empty property hired for the occasion, but this somehow fits the material, which is just these three women alone in their extremity, bound by time and place. The film makes use of the legend of Orpheus, with the idea that it is the lovers' fate to be apart, for that immortalises their love. The treatment of lesbian sex for the camera is noteworthy, both in what it shows and does not show: a breast is simply a breast, not an object of desire to be unveiled for our (male viewer's) arousal; sex itself is off-camera, which is arguably an evasion. The acting of looking is key, of course, and there are plentiful shots of pregnant (female) gazes. And yet the kiss is unavoidable, and packs a potent erotic charge.
(Portrait de la jeune fille en feu)
Country: FR
Technical: col 122m
Director: Céline Sciamma
Cast: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luána Bajrami, Valeria Golino
Synopsis:
In eighteenth-century Brittany a female painter is hired to paint a bridal portrait of a reluctant subject, and must do so in secret. But irresistible feelings of complicity make a second portrait necessary, one based on mutual trust and sacrifice.
Review:
A stunning portrayal of passion and the power of art to embody and evoke private feelings. The mise-en-scène is perhaps a little too stripped back, suggestive of an underdressed empty property hired for the occasion, but this somehow fits the material, which is just these three women alone in their extremity, bound by time and place. The film makes use of the legend of Orpheus, with the idea that it is the lovers' fate to be apart, for that immortalises their love. The treatment of lesbian sex for the camera is noteworthy, both in what it shows and does not show: a breast is simply a breast, not an object of desire to be unveiled for our (male viewer's) arousal; sex itself is off-camera, which is arguably an evasion. The acting of looking is key, of course, and there are plentiful shots of pregnant (female) gazes. And yet the kiss is unavoidable, and packs a potent erotic charge.