Portrait of A Lady on Fire. (9/10)

France, 1770. Marianne, a painter, is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young woman who has just left the convent. Héloïse is a reluctant bride to be and Marianne must paint her without her knowing. She observes her by day, to paint her secretly.

Every now and then, a movie is released, screened and then goes on to spend eternity in the shallow depths of the Cinematic world. Portrait of A Lady on Fire, however, will rather take on a different path! It will take a more deserving route into the heart and soul of millions of spectators.

You see, when cinema and poetry come together, magic is an inevitable outcome! Luckily for us spectators and cinema lovers, Portrait of a Lady on Fire was something that transcended the norms of modern cinema and the clichéd and underwhelming shortcuts used to create a hollow-like motion picture that aims to generate cash and profit rather than to touch the souls of all who watch it!

By transcending these “obstacles”, director Sciamma created an everlasting love story that was like an ode to feminism, forbidden love and the stare of a woman!

Usually when a story takes long to unravel, I become extremely inpatient and tend to criticize the film for it. But with this film, I was not bothered at all. In fact, this turtle-like pace created an erotically charged atmosphere which helped me emerge fully within the deep and hidden layers of the story. I was simply hypnotized.

Héloïse and Marianne, two very different yet the same characters! Besides having great character development throughout the entire runtime, these two actually hold a lot of emotional meanings and touching characteristics! Passion, strength, vulnerability…are just a tiny sample of what these two unique characters represent!

Adele Haenel and Noémie Merlant’s authentic and raw performances were just as captivating as the characters they have embodied. It takes talent to act with your soul, and Haenel and Merlant did exactly that, with both grace and elegance.

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