When Paris-based painter Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is booked to produce a portrait of a young woman on a remote island in Brittany, she doesn’t realise how arduous the task will be or how much it will change her. Héloïse (Adele Haenel), the portrait’s subject, has refused to pose to delay her eventual marriage to a Milanese nobleman, and so Marianne must observe and paint her in private. Their initial hostilities turn slowly into something intimate when left alone at the estate with young housemaid Sophie. Written and directed by Celine Sciamma (Girlhood, Tomboy), Portrait of a Lady on Fire is an exquisite masterclass in slow-burn cinema.
“A devastatingly unforgettable story of love and memory… Razor-sharp and shatteringly romantic” — Indiewire
French
English
France