'Portrait Of A Lady On Fire' A Review

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire is a French historical drama about a young painter Marianne(Noémie Merlant) and her reluctant subject Héloïse(Adèle Haenel) who develop a passionate bond. The film opens with Marianne teaching an art class then flashes back to her journey to an isolated island to paint Héloïse's portrait as part of her dowery. Héloïse refuses to sit for the portrait so Marianne has to observe her as they take walks and pain in secret. As the days pass the two grow close.

Merlant gives a wonderfully natural performance, subtle but emotional. There are long, painstaking yet engaging sequences of her painting with significant focus and patience put on her process. Haenel is more austere, more unknowable, more mercurial which is evocative and mysterious but there isn't a great sense of who the character actually is. The two have a magnetic chemistry but their passion never really boils over, perhaps this is part and parcel of the 18th century setting but for all the patience and silence of the film overall a crescendo of passion would have been a nice counterpoint.  Luàna Bajrami as Sophie the maid is perhaps the most engaging in the limited cast, Marianne and Héloïse are intriguing certainly but despite the dire constraints of the patriarchal system they contend with the addition of feudal economics make Sophie's situation the more interesting and relatable. There's an extended sequence of Sophie contending with an unwanted pregnancy which is more powerful than the leads protracted lusty love story.

Visually the film is absolutely stunning, scenes of painting beautiful paintings cut with scenes in a manor and on a beach that could be in a painting. Each shot seems both meticulously but also effortlessly composed and the limited score, maybe only diegetic if I'm remember correctly, is incredibly impactful.

A quiet but lush masterfully crafted film.

See It.