‘Portrait de la jeune fille en feu’ AKA ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ is a 2019 French historic romantic drama, written and directed by French screenwriter and director, Céline Sciamma. Set in the late 18th century, the movie follows a very unique love story between an aristocrat and a painter commissioned to paint her portrait (which doesn’t sound very unique at all, if you think about it).
But Céline Sciamma is known for her gender fluid themes among girls and women in her films – which means, in this case, both the painter and her muse are women (hence, the uniqueness). A forbidden love story in a different era is hardly very distinctive, but a story of a female painter falling in love with her female subject is definitely a special and unique story.
The film follows Marianne, a painter in 1770, who is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Heloise, by her mother, the Countess. Heloise, who was part of a convent, was forced to return back to her home to wed after her older sister committed suicide and she refuses to pose for portraits. Marianne follows the reluctant bride, under the guise as her hired companion, so as to memorize Heloise’s features for her “secret” commission. They spend days together, as Marianne continues to paint her secretly.
‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The movie won the Queer Palm at Cannes, becoming the first film directed by a woman to win the award. Sciamma also won the award for Best Screenplay at Cannes. The film was theatrically released in France on 18 September 2019. It was also nominated for Independent Spirit Awards, Critics’ Choice Awards and Golden Globe Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
Céline Sciamma’s ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.