Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

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On an isolated island in Bretagne at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman. (imdb)

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Directed By: Céline Sciamma

Written By: Céline Sciamma

Starring: Valeria Golino, Adèle Haenel, Noémie Merlant, Luàna Bajrami, Armande Boulanger, Christelle Baras, Cécile Morel, Guy Delamarche, Clément Bouyssou

Genres: Romance, Drama, History

AKA: Portrait de la jeune fille en feu

Country: France

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Portrait of a Lady on Fire belongs to 37 collections

1. IMDB Top 250 (collaborative: moderated by ppinocchio - 123 stars)

2. Female Directors (collaborative: moderated by djross - 90 stars)

3. boobs (collaborative: moderated by Pickpocket - 51 stars)

4. AAA: Empire's five star movies (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 24 stars)

5. Best of criticker: Drama (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 18 stars)

6. Lesbian (collaborative: moderated by Moribunny - 17 stars)

7. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 13 stars)

8. Gay (collaborative: moderated by vincente - 9 stars)

9. Artist (collaborative: moderated by djross - 8 stars)

10. 18th century period film (collaborative: moderated by djross - 8 stars)

11. Best of criticker: Romance (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 6 stars)

12. Best by different standards (public: sesito71 - 6 stars)

13. Average Percentile >70 (collaborative: moderated by peyrin - 4 stars)

14. Indiewire's 100 Best Movies of the 2010s (collaborative: moderated by offlineoz - 4 stars)

15. The 100 Greatest Films of All Time according to BFI's Sight and Sound (2022 edition) (collaborative: moderated by Dr.N0 - 4 stars)

16. Criterion Collection (Blu-ray and 4K) (public: PepeCamello - 3 stars)

17. Best of criticker: History (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 1 star)

18. Filmekimi 2019 (collaborative: moderated by ozdemibr - 1 star)

19. Cannes 2019 (collaborative: moderated by Johnny Mo)

20. Best of criticker: 2019 (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr)

21. jeff_h's films to remember (public: jeff_h)

22. My Movie Collection (public: elhenzo)

23. 2017- (public: rnest)

24. NZIFF 2019 (public: adwilson)

25. 63rd BFI London Film Festival (2019) ? (public: 5Z5qjRCfM2)

26. Cannes 2019 Official Selection (public: Thegoodboy)

27. 30th Stockholm International Film Festival (2019) ? (public: 5Z5qjRCfM2)

28. Sight & Sound 50 Best Films of 2019 (public: TychoCelchuu)

29. The AV Club's 25 Best Films of 2019 (public: TychoCelchuu)

30. seen in 2020 (public: sproost)

31. C-2010 (public: cantahta)

32. Deeper than most people would think (public: misaeld7)

33. RMC™ (public: AAAutin)

34. unwatched (public: normalman)

35. Blu-ray Collection (public: TripEuphoric)

36. To Watch Soon (public: Reclix)

37. Films Watched 2021 (public: knoroz)

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All Ratings | With Reviews

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TCI | Percentile | Date Rated | # Stars (Reviews)

Stars	User	Rating
15	frederic_g54	9 _90th
Much like its main characters, the movie does anything but wear its heart on its sleeve, instead operating on a push/pull dynamic before eventually unburdening itself of its long-suppressed feelings. Considering the ephemeral nature of its central romance, it also makes a poignant statement on the retention of memory through visual association and the unremitting woe of a once-shared past. Rewards your patience, if you choose to stick with it.
8	Leonardis	97 _95th
I went in with no expectations or knowledge of the premise and was completely enthralled. It’s beautifully shot and written with such an insane attention to detail that it hurts. The cinematography is pretty stunning and the two leads are perfectly cast. I really dug this story and I appreciate a romance that builds up a relationship instead of rushing into it so unconvincingly. It is deliberately paced but I never once checked my watch or took a break. It isn’t artsy, it’s just beautiful.
8	Mist600	70 _32nd
Arty film about art. Has a woman smoking a pipe, naked in front of a fire, in the first 5 minutes. Verdant armpit hair thru out. IE. This could not be more French! \|\| Exceedingly well shot & acted \| Romantic & bitter-sweet \| Final moment, lost in the orchestra, is so beautifully moving \| Still overall, don't really get what the fuss is about. Feel that European cinema probably produces 10 films like this every year \| Not bad, not at all, but why all the critical rapture??
7	Bown	88 _88th
On the surface it seems like another slow and understated period queer romantic drama, but the magnetic performances from (and chemistry between) the two actresses, and Sciamma’s exquisite framing and layered, moving screenplay, with astute observations on memory and it’s triggers, authentic tenderness, and some surprisingly topical elements, lift it far above most of its contemporaries (where it promptly shits on Carol from a great height). One of the year’s best.
7	bof	89 _96th
"Remember." One of the most cinematic films I've seen in a while, every frame a painting (the gerund, not the noun). Creation and love as both impossibility and necessity, as verbs that create worlds... goddamnit, they should have sent a poet.
7	juntakinte99	80 _65th
It's nice to see an artist love story that isn't Jack from Titanic using bad pickup lines. The queer romance totally nails the equal parts of desire and societal repression. I have just two minor complaints. As an art film, while it's admirably made (especially in costume and look), the characters take a moment to come into focus. And as a movie the lack of music kept me at an arm's length emotionally--although the campfire and Four Seasons moments are moving. Still, this is highly recommended.
6	WWallce4prez	90 _95th
"How do we know it's finished? At one point, we stop." This whole movie is on fire. Merlant and Haelel are shot in 8k yet seem to be even more vibrant than that with their prolonged stares and poignant glances. The nearly scoreless film is all about details as each of the two leads learns about love and loss in a period of just a few days. The two scenes with music are absolutely deafening and glorious. Saying this movie is gorgeous is selling it short.
5	Alex Watkins	5 _91st
A film of restrained longing which threatens to boil over into all-consuming passion, except for the acute awareness of each woman that there is no path down which lies a happy ending for them. All they can do is embrace each second and cling to it for eternity. Builds to a devastating and perfect crescendo at its very final moment.
5	twincinema	85 _85th
Now, folks, have you heard about this new French movie? It's called Portrait of a Lady on Fire and it is getting rave reviews. Yeah, yeah -- well, get this -- it has been announced that it's getting remade for American audiences. Hm, the title will be -- Portrait of a Man Eating a Corn Dog.
5	antidood1	80 _84th
Beautiful. I was on the fence about this movie for most of its runtime, but in the meantime it was getting under my skin in a way that only revealed itself in the final act. The way the plot goes is not surprising, but the love it portrays is so warm and rich, it makes it really hard not to care. Comparisons with Call Me By Your Name and Carol are easily made and partly justified, but Portrait is very much its own thing, with its own unique atmosphere and central relationship.
5	Hawkins	80 _69th
I love the absence of incidental music for a period piece, placing us in a time where music was rare and exclusively live. Makes the oil painting ASMR come alive. Yet (spoilers!) I can't help feeling it's a cheap trick to make the movie 95% quiet so it can blow my ass up with the whole summer movement of The Four Seasons at the end. How much of the last scene's greatness is just Vivaldi? That's my hangup. Still, the final shot was wonderful.
4	KasperL	80 _86th
I didn't mind the leisurely pacing one bit, but the film's greatest strength is how pretty it looks. It's a decent story, but I wasn't particularly touched by the love story nor as impressed by the ending as many seem to be.
4	Detox	87 _88th
Smarter people than me can probably tell you something about how this movie meditates on evanescence and eternity, on difference and equality. But at least I can tell you that this movie tells a slow but intense love story where small gestures mean a lot. And while it looks great and the acting is good, what impressed me the most was the minimal use of music which brought across its transcendential power.
4	Ofterdingen	81 _94th
Brokeback Painting.
4	deaddilly	85 _84th
Call me by your name and paint me like one of your French girls.
4	MontyCircus	20 _11th
"I want you to draw me like one of your hairy French abortion girls."
4	natebarrios	80 _86th
so we just gonna fuck me up in the last two scenes like that's how you're gonna end this shit?!
4	Sadman	90 _93rd
It's been some time since a movie has produced so many individual shots sending shivers down my spine. Most of the movie is understated, which makes the few instances of hightened emotion burn even brighter. The cinematography is so blatantly amazing it feels kind of unnecessary to even mention. The two leads are, much like the movie itself, a joy to watch and be watched by. The writing is dense without diminishing the passion. The coda is narratively clunky, but emotional perfection.
4	loc42	90 _93rd
Opening credits appear on canvas. Then, the 1st scene is not the film we are watching. It only starts when Sciamma zooms into the painting called "Portrait of...". There, she narrates Heloise's portrait to us, which means that Sciamma/painter and the painting/movie become one and the same. That's why, after the painter leaves, only her "voice" narrates us the 2nd and 3rd times she sees Heloise. By then, she is only a voice bc the painting is gone. Also, note the reference to Abelard & Heloise.
4	eCitizen	80 _83rd
I really liked how they took their time to craft a beautifully romantic story about forbidden love. Adèle Haenel is a rare beauty. She and Noémie Merlant gave exceptional performances. It felt authentic and genuine. I was engaging and entertaining. The ending seemed somewhat insufficient but managed to reveal their enduring love for each other. The actual portrait of a lady on fire shown in the movie was quite inadequate. I like the movie poster better. Worthwhile. I might watch it again.
4	Corbad	90 _96th
Utterly captivating. Stunningly shot, subtly performed, and sensitively written. Masterfully and intricately composed in every moment. The tension is unbearable as an epitome of the expression, but eminently bearable in its soft and slow beauty. Profoundly and quietly emotional.
3	schnofel	47 _34th
I walked out of it in Cannes, bored and irritated by its one-dimensional minnesong, but having finished it now, I see it as a completely respectable love affair, if juvenile and overly calculated. There's no dimension otherwise, just clean images on a clean canvas, with emotions long held back and then released. The ending is ridiculously overstated. As is the acting.
3	Moribunny	55 _44th
Nice for a while but overstays its welcome. There's not much to this aside from its overflowing symbolism. Above and beyond the forbidden lezzie love premise, what little drama it has feels a bit artificial and forced. The dialogue is intelligent, but rather tame. Sciamma's symbolism is incessant and all-encompassing, though - the film speaks in similes. Try making a drinking game out of spotting them.
3	andayb	80 _91st
i felt that this one started out a bit sluggish. slowly, but surely it grew on me. towards the end i was thoroughly captivated by sciamma's deliberately minimal direction. i'm pretty certain this story couldn't have been told without the history between sciamma and haenel, who, by the way, has a mesmerizing presence, an absolutely amazing actress. her subtle and somber demeanor is stunning, truly the perfect casting for this story.
3	monclivie	83 _82nd
A lot of quality here, but honestly there were better period pieces, better female-centered movies, better lesbian romances and more beautiful painting-like, picturesque movies in recent years, although the views here are truly amazing. I waited all two hours for some bang-yeah, something that will make it unforgettable and deserving these 96 PSI, but it just ended with one of the most overplayed pieces of classical music, thanks to all the talent show violinists.
3	magdabag	100 _99th
Goddamn I'm so gay. Everything about this movie is beautifully shot and crafted. The leads performed the hell out of this, considering there is literally only a handful of people in the film. Haenel and Merlant were seriously amazing and had great chemistry. You can tell they read each other really well. Sciamma's direction and writing is beautifully done, as well as the cinematography. I have zero complaints about this film and can't wait to watch it again. I give 9 sapphic looks out of 10.
3	P u l p	73 _78th
smART.
3	Quintonjamin	90 _90th
Not many movies make me care about the characters in them as much as this movie did. Despite being slow, it never got boring because every shot was beautiful.
2	Kavu	91 _96th
Such a beautiful movie in many ways. Perfectly shot and acted, delicately written.
2	chengming	85 _93rd
This film has antiquated costumes, employs theatrical acting and stays in the same indoor location for most of its runtime. All of these are things I loathe in films - and yet I really enjoyed this one. I guess that must mean it's pretty good?
2	Calexico	95 _97th
Absolute masterpiece. Beautiful cinematography. Powerful performances. Incredible dialogue. "I didn't know you were an art critic." "I didn't know you were a painter."
2	Excelsior	80 _91st
The movie is admittedly a slow burn, but that's also what makes the movie so good. The relationship between the two leads in the first half is built on a lie, and the portrait suffers for it. The second half opens up this dynamic-- the painting of the portrait becomes a collaborative process and a romance forms. It's a complicated work on feminist aesthetics that I couldn't stop thinking about. It makes you intimately feel what it's saying.
2	zspyry	8 _92nd
Very strong movie with excellent cinematography and sound design. Many layers of symbolism, with varying degree of subtlety, and strong feminist themes make this a film that really sparks conversation. My only issue was that while the sparse dialogue fit the style of the movie, it made the central romantic arc a little less relatable for me. Also that one drug scene felt anachronistic. Apart from these, heavily recommended!
2	fenixdown	82 _83rd
Elegant and mysterious.
2	psim	87 _95th
A beautifully shot and acted period romance that manages to be both understated and intense. It manages to build an incredible amount of tension from looks and gestures alone.
2	mandy	7 _73rd
Extremely well made, beautifully acted and much to enjoy . my expectations may have been too high and it just didn't move me.
2	bentien	75 _83rd
Beautiful to look at (like a lot of other films about artists and paintings) and with great performances. A bit monotonous at times though.
2	stuie299	80 _61st
Everything from the bonfire onward is Spectacular. Unfortunately the drawn out nature of the first more distant and detached half makes for a very tedious start to the film. Overall though, the cinematography is beautiful and the acting extremely on point. The ending scene reminded me of Youth the way it used live music to generate such strong emotions. Ultimately I just want it to be 15 or so minutes shorter. A tighter edit on the first half would have really made it live up to the hype.
2	sproost	80 _87th
A gut-punching finale. it's a movie I will not forget for a while. Amazingly shot and acted, it's the oscar snub of 2019.
2	aross	70 _71st
I have to say it was well-done and beautifully shot, but I had high expectations based on the reviews that it ultimately fell short of.
2	JSchlansky	88 _88th
I will be painting exclusively with fire from now on
2	5Z5qjRCfM2	65 _74th
This is an undoubtedly beautiful film. Everything about it shows the filmmaker's passion for the craft and love for her characters. I just didn't believe the conflict in the third act. It floated to the top, felt unmotivated, and went away in two scenes.
2	toddsalter	91 _80th
Checks all of the boxes for amazing cinematography, acting, script, score (very subtle in this case), et al. for an arthouse movie. But for me what made the movie great was the perfect pacing (pretty slow, which left the perfect amount of time for me as the viewer to truly contemplate what was happening) and that every look or gesture was the most deeply meaningful of any movie I've ever seen.
2	leemarvins	82 _79th
This is what female gaze looks like circa 2019. Celine Sciamma tells a love story between two women that doesn't objectify or exploit it's subject matter. Great filmmaker Sciamma makes her best movie yet with this astute film about women and the memory of the love lost.
2	SageSledge	100 _91st
Left me physically shaken, something no other film has done. A mesmerising thing of beauty.
2	feublo	85 _74th
Beautifully shot, beautifully paced. Love is carefully remembered and repainted with intimate fragments that nurture it's memory. It invites you to repaint these emotions from the eye of the creator.
2	doyler29	100 _96th
This is a beautiful film that luxuriates in the small, textural details of life, paying close and exquisite attention to faces. On the one hand it's a love story, and one that pays minute attention to small details and fleeting moments. It's also a vivid portrait of a particular way of living. I love this film.
2	JonnyHalftab	87 _71st
Scissor Me By Your Name
2	matthagen	54 _60th
A simple tale of forbidden love, expertly crafted and well-acted. There are powerful, ethereal moments, but the movie doesn't have anything profound to say. I wish there was more to get me fully enthralled. I was hoping for greatness after hearing the glowing reviews, and while I liked it, it falls short of expectations.
1	DMCrimson	87 _96th
Call me by your name has an older sister and she's smarter. Best ending to a film in years.
1	Nathan S	5 _93rd
The poet's choice cannot be made without having known to begin with the lover's predicament. The imprint of a figure, a face, a time and place. The formative wellspring from which experience is inscribed into art. This film's generally mannered restraint amplifies the potency of several striking images and sequences.
1	tenhas	98 _98th
The deepest fire i saw. It will go on forever. And I will look 28th page of all books firstly.
1	andyglover	100 _93rd
Most movies are just movies, but that was art. The experience of watching this film unfold is one I won't soon forget.
1	Neonman	78 _58th
The metaphor of love as 'burning' seems glib, and maybe it always is, but it works pretty effectively in its key moments throughout this film. Very assured and delicately precise acting and pacing strengthen the feeling of their passion -- it's a highly effective romance film, though there's little it offers once it's finished.
1	CoinQuatro	80 _88th
Oozes love and empathy for every one of its (brilliantly cast) characters. Just all around masterfully done. My only gripe with this one: I somehow don't think it benefits from repeated viewings.
1	moraesfelipe	80 _85th
Glad to see a film about painting that shows ACTUAL painting. Of course art itself is just one element of a truly beautiful, poignant, elegant love story. Striking how this is also about women fighting, each one, different kinds of oppression -- the maids wants to abort, the lady doesn't want to get married, the painter can't officialy sign or paint "man" stuff, aka, historical, political events. The gesturing, the gazing, the touching. Sometimes all we've got are fond, blurry, eternal memories.
1	wetwillies	90 _80th
Viewed December 16, 2019.
1	jmarkthespot	95 _98th
WOW
1	overrated	77 _86th
Would make a good double feature with Beau Travail for "repressed gay French people by the deep blue sea".
1	karlson	90 _96th
SPOILER And it got the lover's end, after all Marvelous!
1	SheWas	70 _72nd
Not the lesbian Casablance we yet await and deserve
1	Hofschneider	96 _98th
Loved is not only what is observed but within the eyes of who observes. Sciamma reinvented my love for cinema, by turning its most precious tool - the close-up - into a bridge between subject and audience. A Portrait is a rich text, full of codes and secrets, with political and historical views that I fully endorse, but most of all, this movie is a love letter to the rush of watching something you love with care. While this act becomes love itself.
1	FoxyRussian	98 _96th
A near perfect movie. Sure you're watching this cause you heard it was an amazing romance movie, but the tension and build up to it is the best I've seen. There is no way to not sound pretentious about this, but this movie does so much with the empty space between lines. The silence, the longer than usual shots, the looks of the leads to one another. Just an all around beautiful movie
1	TheEscapist	84 _93rd
Great screenplay, great cinematography, great performances, great casting. It's really good! It's low-key for most of the film which makes the important points it raises come off more natural, more powerful and more thought provoking. And it does make great points in a unique and subtle way. I didn't find it to be a perfect film, but it is a great effort and a good idea well executed. Props to everyone involved.
1	king zazvor	75 _59th
Wonderfully restrained, except for the ending, which I thought too melodramatic. Would have preferred that it end with the "look back" on the staircase...though I wonder how necessary the mythology was.
1	thuckabe	89 _77th
Beautiful. I was thrown that after developing an intricate, delicate, curious relationship for 70 minutes - we just kinda cannonball into this steamy, lusty chapter. Pacing fell for me after that point, but yikes, there is some really great stuff here.
1	Adam P-D	80 _94th
Beautiful in so many ways. The portrait style centre/symmetrical composition of the shots with their minimal backgrounds was a brilliant decision - it felt like my eyes never left the characters. There actually appears to be an image stabilising effect used at the end to intensify the barrel-of-a-gun style even more. Ignore all that though - just love it.
1	ott	60 _38th
so now it's orphic that a lesbian romance can't end well?
1	guzkedisi	100 _99th
Amazing colours, magnificent scenes, perfect soundtracks! The bonfire scene is unique! "Non possunt fugere/parvum vident nobis/nos resurgemus"
1	anilscn	50 _44th
Yani abi yani amkkkk dümdüz aşk hikayesi dümdüz. Ne var bunda allah aşkına ne ne ne. Kadın yönetmen olunca ve lezbiyenlik olunca +30 puan mı?
1	psalm	60 _73rd
Adèle Haenel looks like constipated when she cries.
1	Narg	96 _98th
Invites you to examine the leads (their conversations, their faces in profile, their bodies in silhouette, their glances) just as carefully as the film itself looks at the paintings in it. This effect is so strong that when they are describing each other's mannerisms I felt as if I already knew the answers just as they did. Then it shows those last two absolute gut punches of final scenes. And then it stops. Or does it? Damn.
1	Ceekay19	70 _55th
Héloïse: "When you're observing me, who do you think I'm observing?"
1	PianoSama	75 _96th
Though not perfect for me, it's a beautifully crafted work of art that tells a fascinating story. Deeply romantic & deeply heartfelt, the finale hits you in the face with an unexpected emotional punch that I was amazed by. Anchored by two phenomenal lead performances from Merlant & Haenel, who play two remarkable characters, it also features stunning visuals & a well-paced plot with plenty of drama, tension, & even humor. Overall, it's smart, clever, unique, & a damn good ride. Give it a watch.
1	lofisofi	67 _70th
a very glorified summer fling film for the wlw dark academic crowd
1	RoyMovToMars	85 _82nd
A roller-coaster of conflicting emotions captured in the wild lives of the feminine captives of patriarchy
1	mijelly	95 _90th
Some pacing problems, a little slow in the beginning, but shows great chemistry and intensity in the affair between the main characters. Beautiful interpretation of a classic Greek myth.
1	JPFerguson	75 _80th
Expecting a combination of 'Persona' and 'La Belle Noiseuse' (perhaps unfairly), I was somewhat disappointed. The scenery is amazing (wonderfully captured by Claire Mathon) and the performances, particularly from the two leads, are powerful but cannot save the film from some clunky moments (the whole premise of the film as a flashback and the forced sense of closure with the page number of the book painted in the picture). The depiction of the painting process also lacked authenticity.
1	Hedaan	100 _95th
God, this just rocked me. Beautiful in every way.

Average Percentile 73.29% from 1682 Ratings