Portrait of a Lady on Fire An Overwhelming Piece of Art
This is easily my favourite film of the year and one of the most intense, visceral and emotional cinema experiences of my whole life. So much of this film is pitch perfect and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I saw it, it sticks with you and even thinking about it makes me tear up a bit. Celine Sciamma creates a beautiful story of a painter, Marriane (Noemie Merlant) being hired to paint a Lady, Heloise (Adele Haenel) who refuses to pose and Marriane must paint her image in secret. It is a slow, methodical film which doesn't rely on some grandiose plot but instead just takes its time to explore a very personal and specific set of themes and ideas and it pays off immensely.
This film reminds me of everything I wanted films like 'Carol' and 'Call Me By Your Name' to be, it has the meat on its bone that those films were severely missing. Sciamma takes the beautiful environment, the gorgeous period piece setting and develops a compelling narrative backed up by such a fascinating study of human nature. This film is basically built around that idea of a 'Lady on Fire' and makes an empowering tale for women, everything about this tale is full of personal drive and honesty. It is hard for me to really delve into how important this film is as I obviously can't relate to Sciamma's representation of the female gaze, but I can't even begin to describe how refreshing this perspective is. Sciamma constantly contrasts a rich detailed period setting with representation and ideas that feel so refreshingly modern to establish the exact point that these ideas aren't modern, that female solidarity is timeless and always important. It is an overwhelmingly brave film to say the least, which is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot about directors. It isn't this frustrating edgy style that gets praised for being brave, it is mesmerising, personal and devloped brave. At no point does Sciamma every coward away from authenticity and that is just breathtaking, she portrays all these authentic honest emotions in a whirlwind of creativity through the film.
I feel like 2019 has been a very impressive year in technical cinema, a lot of films have been praised for their revolutionary visual or sound design and that seems to be what has drawn a lot of people to these films. 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire' uses quite a subdued yet incredibly memorable visual tone. There are shots that stuck with me for days just because of every element being pitch perfect in the design, never feeling repetitive or lazy. Sciamma has obviously subtly used slight colour correction to make the vibrant dresses and architecture stand out, a lot of the production design constantly wavers on overwhelming whites and cleanliness to dark and gritty aesthetics sometimes within the same shot. The location and design of this film is breathtaking, every scene feels so direct and often overwhelming in how simplistic yet effective Sciamma uses visual storytelling. Framing and perspective in the cinematography is vital in a lot of the film's most important moments, in order to make these emotions feel much more raw and effective the film is shot incredibly subjectively to draw attention to what our characters are experiencing and feeling. The constant motif of painting becomes a fascinating process that Sciamma indulges in creating emotion just through the stroke of a brush, the score being quiet and methodical yet empowering with emotion at times and even subtle things such as the intensity of certain diegetic sound, things like this make this film feel so raw and special.
At the forefront of the complex script and layered visual aesthetic is a collection of four beyond talented performances from actors understanding the personal feelings of the film they are in . For everything else that is exceptional in this film, none of it would work without the effort that all four core performances are dedicating. Noemie Merlant as Marriane is the POV character, the one introduced to the world of the film and the one that develops and adapts to this world as the film progresses. However she is written as this very flawed and intriguing human being, Merlant portrays her as naturally rebellious and full of natural agency in a way that never feels cliche. A lot of films tend to draw attention to female characters with agency through other characters shaming them, however Marriane never faces that and stays strong because of her own validation. Heloise is the character at the forefront of this film and one of the most interesting characters committed to cinema. She is rebellious yet sympathetic, damaged yet infectiously strong and this layered performance is something to behold, all climaxing in one of the bravest and most beautiful endings to a film. Haenel understands this role with an admirable level of authenticity and her interactions with other characters are drenched in subtext and beautiful character building. Luanas Bajrami plays their handmade Sophie in a very emotional and sympathetic role, she offers a brilliant new angle to the female solidarity themes and makes everything Sciamma is trying to say work on another more ambitious level. These three performances are essential to the film's success and bind together everything so perfectly.
I am absolutely enamoured with this film, it blew me away on first viewing and that experience is something I will never forget. Sciamma has created something really special here, something with a unique and dedicated voice and a confident mature piece of art. I can't recommend this enough.
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