08-11-2020, 04:53 PM
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
I knew I was going to love Celine Sciamma's latest film as soon as she choose to open with a closeup showing the scratch of charcoal on paper... I could almost smell it. The story follows Marianne, an 18th century French female portrait artist who arrives on an island to paint the likeness of noble woman Heloise, so it can be sent to her prospective husband. She's refused to sit for other male painters, so her mother engages Marianne on the pretext of being a hired companion for Heloise. While the mother is away the two begin to fall in love and share a brief oasis with Sophie, the maid of the household, where the rules of 18th century society and morality don't exist. There's a shot that begins on hands doing embroidery but it's revealed that it's Sophie doing the sewing and Heloise doing the cooking. We know and they know it can't last.
It's one of the best looking digital films I've seen, I thought it was shot on film from the warmth of the images. A lot of it is about looking, really looking, artistically, thematically, emotionally and romantically and the viewer is invited to join in via the long searching reciprocal POV shots. Sciamma's script is perfect, every moment is there for a reason and resonates with later scenes. It was such a joy to behold a total modern masterpiece like this. During the final beautiful and moving scene I had to stop myself physically applauding my TV. Oh I wish I had been able to see this at the cinema but my local multiplex sucks, so I couldn't. 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire' sometimes reminded me of other 17th-18th century period films like Milos Forman's 'Amadeus' in it's retrospective structure and Peter Greenaway's 'The Draughtsman's Contract' in it's contractual artistic premise... two worthy comparisons. I reckon every Sciamma film has been twice as brilliant as the one preceding it, so judging by 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire' and her past form, her next project should be the greatest film ever made.
I knew I was going to love Celine Sciamma's latest film as soon as she choose to open with a closeup showing the scratch of charcoal on paper... I could almost smell it. The story follows Marianne, an 18th century French female portrait artist who arrives on an island to paint the likeness of noble woman Heloise, so it can be sent to her prospective husband. She's refused to sit for other male painters, so her mother engages Marianne on the pretext of being a hired companion for Heloise. While the mother is away the two begin to fall in love and share a brief oasis with Sophie, the maid of the household, where the rules of 18th century society and morality don't exist. There's a shot that begins on hands doing embroidery but it's revealed that it's Sophie doing the sewing and Heloise doing the cooking. We know and they know it can't last.
It's one of the best looking digital films I've seen, I thought it was shot on film from the warmth of the images. A lot of it is about looking, really looking, artistically, thematically, emotionally and romantically and the viewer is invited to join in via the long searching reciprocal POV shots. Sciamma's script is perfect, every moment is there for a reason and resonates with later scenes. It was such a joy to behold a total modern masterpiece like this. During the final beautiful and moving scene I had to stop myself physically applauding my TV. Oh I wish I had been able to see this at the cinema but my local multiplex sucks, so I couldn't. 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire' sometimes reminded me of other 17th-18th century period films like Milos Forman's 'Amadeus' in it's retrospective structure and Peter Greenaway's 'The Draughtsman's Contract' in it's contractual artistic premise... two worthy comparisons. I reckon every Sciamma film has been twice as brilliant as the one preceding it, so judging by 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire' and her past form, her next project should be the greatest film ever made.
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