Premiered at the Cannes Film Festival May 19,2019
Winner of the Best Screenplay Award at Cannes
A Celine Sciamma film
Plot (Spoiler Alert)
A painter, Marianne, travels to an island in Brittany to paint a portrait of a woman named Heloise. Heloise is arranged to be married, but during the time Marianne is around, the two of them have a love affair.
Blaine: Celine Sciamma hadn’t made a film in five years. She was interested in doing a film involving certain things. It started off with a love story, then she thought about making a historic film that showed women’s talent in art. It was a challenge at first, but then Celine learned there was a lot of female painters in Brittany during the eighteenth century who were successful and that was huge for Celine. Celine decided to write a fiction that would represent those female artists and give it the love story she had in mind. It would explore same sex attractions which is based on Celine’s way of life.
Actress Adele Haenel and Celine Sciamma had known each other for twelve years. They worked together on Celine’s very first feature, “Water Lilies”, and the two of them had been in a romantic relationship during that time. Adele had been wanting to do another project with Celine because she loves her creativeness. Celine wrote the part of Heloise in “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” for Adele. Adele was amazed with how Celine wrote the script as she was reading through it. Getting one of the main characters for the film was easy, but she still had to find an actress who would play Adele’s opposite, Marianne. Many actresses came in to audition for the part of Marianne and Adele would stick around to read lines with them. Noemie Merlant felt like she was a perfect match for Adele as Celine saw them together. Like Adele, Noemie Merlant was amazed by Celine’s well written screenplay. For Noemie, the story had an interesting combination of romance and art. There was so much detail to the relationship between Marianne and Heloise. Noemie also fell in love with the character she would be playing, Marianne. She thought a lot of Marianne.
Noemie Merlant's job was more challenging than Adele’s because Marianna is a painter and Noemie didn’t have to learn how to paint, but she had to make it convincing that she was a professional artist. Helene Delmaire was the artist who did all the painted portraits that are shown in the film and Noemie would always stand by Helene’s side watching as she was at work. Each portrait took 70 hours of work. Another challenge for Noemie is she had to work with her right hand because Marianne is right handed and Noemie is actually left handed.
Marianne is painting Heloise’s portrait one step at a time and she's using different sketches she did of Heloise to help her. The way she is painting the portrait is like putting a puzzle together. Marianne starts off with Heloise’s head. And then later on, Marianne sees Heloise’s hands are in a nice pose, so she draws the hands when Heloise isn’t looking and adds that to the portrait. And then finally there’s the green dress. Marianne will get a good look at herself in the dress through a mirror, so she can see how it looks when someone is posing in it. Marianne has a photographic memory. Every time she gets a good look at the details she needs for her work it’s like her mind is taking shots. Marianne is taking the time she needs with the portrait and you get to see the portrait evolve the more she works on it. Celine Sciamma said something that, to me, sounded like this, "it takes patience to work on your art". Celine took the time to work on her screenplay and bringing it to life.
My favorite shot in “Portrait of a Lady on Fire" is when Marianne and Heloise are facing the ocean, staring straight out at it. The camera is focussing on Noemie Merlant’s head from the left side and her head is covering Adele Haenel. You can’t see Adele in the frame until Noemie turns her head. Noemie’s character, Marianne, keeps turning her head at Heloise so she can get a good look at her face. The beach, the waves, the rocky hills in that area make a great background or surrounding in every shot for the scenes that happen on the beach.
Every time Marianne gets a good look at Heloise she wants to draw her. Every peace of Heloise's body and every pose she does is so unique. Of course that’s not the only reason Marianne keeps looking at Heloise. Marianne also has developed feelings for her. And Heloise has no idea why Marianne stares at her a lot, or why Marianne is staying at her place, but she enjoys her company.
Marianne is supposed to keep Heloise company as they walk to the beach. The first scene with Heloise, you can’t see what she looks like because her back is turned and she is covered up by a cloak. It isn’t till both her and Marianne make it to the beach that we get a good look at what she looks like. Heloise and Marianne will wear these cloth masks during some of their walks and Heloise looks more mysterious. Adele’s eyes are nice and I like how they look in that shot. And Noemie Merlant, there’s shots that show highlights in her eyes. Noemie’s eyes look like they shine in one shot.
Celine Sciamma worked closely with her cinematographer, Claire Mathon, in order to figure out the look and moods of the film. Portraits from the eighteenth century are inspiring for a project. They always are when you’re making a movie that represents that time period. Celine and Claire went to a gallery and observed the details of the paintings. It also encouraged them to experiment. They wanted to see if they could create their own look for the film. Celine wanted to go with a soft look for “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”.
The way “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” was shot was different from the way Celine had imagined. Like Celine thought they would have grayish weather while shooting the film, but the location they visited before principal photography began had nothing but clear blue skies. Celine was very lucky that she had nice weather while shooting the film. “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” was also shot in a deserted castle and Celine and Claire would spend hours lighting the house in the best way. Like the scenes that happen at night, Celine wanted to be lit up by candle, but she didn’t want the candles to show in each frame.
Marianne’s last day is coming up and she tells Heloise the reason she is there is to paint a portrait of her. Heloise gets to look at the portrait and she makes it sound like she is an unimpressed critic. Marianne is upset and damages the face on her painting. Why Marianne did that was a personal reason, not because Heloise didn’t look impressed, but because she doesn’t want to leave Heloise. A finished portrait means Marianne has no purpose there anymore. Heloise didn’t dislike the portrait, she had nothing against it. It’s just that Heloise has been enjoying herself in getting to know Marianne for the past week and she would like to spend more time with her. Marianne stays a bit longer to paint a new portrait and Heloise will be there to pose for her.
Every time Marianne looks at Heloise she gets inspired of what to sketch. The lower half of Heloise’s dress catches on fire and she doesn’t panic that she’s on fire, she just stands still, looking calm. Heloise will have ideas of her own on what Marianne can sketch and she’ll pose for them. Heloise is the Rose to Marianne’s Jack Dawson. Heloise has found posing to be enjoyable. And Marianne brings so much life into her work. Marianne and Heloise don’t have to be shy to express their romantic feelings towards each other. They feel very comfortable around each other.
Marianne's imagination will play tricks with her a few times and she’ll be seeing Heloise wearing a white dress as if she is the ghost of Christmas past. It’s a reminder that Heloise is getting married and the fun both she and Marianne have had won’t last.
Heloise’s mother, La Comtesse (The Countess), I would say is a people person. La Comtesse is very kind to Marianne when they first meet and she thinks she is a great presence. La Comtesse does show her serious side when she sees the ruined portrait of Heloise.
La Comtesse leaves the house for a little and it’s just Marianne, Heloise and the house maid, Sophie. With La Comtesse gone, Marianne and Heloise can have privacy. And Sophie has been keeping a secret around La Comtesse as well. Sophie is pregnant, but she doesn’t want to be a mother. Marianne and Heloise are the only people who know Sophie is pregnant and they keep her company as she gets an abortion. Marianne and Heloise treat Sophie as if she is their sister and they help around the house by cooking, setting up the table and other stuff.
“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” has no music score and that’s ok because some films, “Blue is the Warmest Color” and “Roma”, can work without it. At times it’s nice to have silence while painting a portrait and that’s what I think as I am watching “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”. And then those times they are on the beach, the sound of the waves is nice to hear. There is music in “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”, just no score. There’s a scene where Marianne, Heloise and Sophie are outside watching a group of women sing as a quire group.
Marianne’s new portrait is complete and La Comtesse returns, which means the fun is over. La Comtesse has no clue of what has been going on while she’s been away and she suspects nothing.
All Heloise wants is for Marianne to be there always. Marianne leaving is hard for the both of them. Not to mention Heloise is getting ready to get married, but she rather be with Marianne. There’s nothing those two can do and even though this is hard on Marianne, she manages to stay strong in front of La Comtesse. Sophie is also sad that Marianne has to leave because she too has enjoyed her company. Marianne is a kind soul. Marianne sees that Heloise’s wedding dress is being put on and I feel just as disappointed as Marianne while watching that. I mean Heloise doesn’t want to go through with this. It’s written all over her face. It’s Marianne she truly wants to be with.
Shortly after, it cuts to where it left off in the beginning of the film, where Marianne was teaching other females how to paint. Marianne is trying to forget the past because it hurts. Even though she and Heloise had a wonderful time together, still Marianne wishes it never ended.
Marianne is at a gallery and she sees a new portrait of Heloise with her daughter in it. Heloise left a sign in that portrait hoping Marianne would see it. Heloise is holding a book in the portrait and she’s using her finger as a bookmark on page 28. Her finger is opening the book slightly to show the number 28. That’s the page Marianne drew a picture of herself for Heloise. That book shows that Marianne will always be Heloise.
Marianne attends a play and she can see Heloise way on the other side. Marianne has a good eye. The camera does a close up on Adele as her character is watching the play and the film ends with just focussing on her as she gets all emotional while watching the play.
The film’s stars, Adele Haenel and Noemie Merlant, thought the script Celine Sciamma wrote was brilliant and Cannes saw it the same way. Cannes awarded Celine the Best Screenplay Award. Celine believed “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” would do well at other Festivals and theaters because of that. Celine herself was impressed with how “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” turned out.
My rating on “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is five out of five stars
