Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu
Trailer
Available to rent/buy on YouTube & GooglePlay, Hulu (USA).
English Title
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Year
2019
Director
Céline Sciamma (also screen writer)
Synopsis
Brittany, 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.
Honours/Awards
- Festival De Cannes 2019
- Sélection Officiellement
- Best Screenplay Award, Céline Sciamma
- Queer Palm
- European Film Awards
- European University Film Award
- Best Screenwriter, Céline Sciamma
- Lumières Award
- Best Actress, Noémie Merlant
- Best Cinematography, Claire Mathon
- César Awards
- Best Cinematography, Claire Mathon
- New York Film Critics Online
- Best Foreign Language film
- Los Angeles Film Critics Association
- Best Cinematography, Claire Mathon
- Toronto Film Critics Associate
- Best Foreign Language film
- Women Film Critics Circle
- Best Movie About Women
- Best Foreign Film By or About Women
- Best Screen Couple, Noémie Merlant & Adèle Haenel
- Boston Society of Film Critics
- Best Cinematography, Claire Mathon
- Florida Film Critics Circle
- Best Picture
- Best Director, Céline Sciamma
- Best Foreign Language Film
- National Society of Film Critics
- Best Cinematography, Claire Mathon
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards
- Best Cinematography, Claire Mathon
- National Board of Review
- Top Five Foreign Language Films
- AND LOTS MORE!
Adèle’s role
Héloïse, daughter of a Comtesse in Brittany, France.
Excerpts from reviews
“Is it Céline Sciamma's talent that makes Adèle Haenel sublime, or on the contrary, the beauty of the actress that inspires the director? This is precisely the question that is asked through the relationship between a painter and his model. And the result is astounding.
French cinema owes a sacred debt to Céline Sciamma: that of having made us discover the charm and talent of Adèle Haenel, in 2007, at the time of the very noted release of La Naissance des Pieuvres. Since then, the actress has toured with the most prominent directors in the country, so much so that this year, she arrives in Cannes with no fewer than three films to defend. One of the three who competes for the Palme d'Or also marks the reunion between the two women.”
"Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu now belongs to the greatest romantic films of French cinema, carried by this exceptional duo that are the two main actresses who know as a person how to mix burns and caresses.”
“Adèle Haenel has a fiery, tomboyish stomp-walk that undercuts her blonde hair, blue eyes, rosebud mouth and ladylike dress. She has an unflinching sass that Sciamma knows how to frame, letting these qualities grow starker as the central relationship deepens in intimacy.”
“But also the look that the filmmaker (Sciamma) puts on her lifelong muse (Adèle Haenel, actress) and in both cases, the reciprocity that this pas-de-deux implies. Yes, any act of creation is a collaboration.”
“The couple, formed by Adèle Haenel and Noémie Merlant, is deeply imbued with realism thanks to a balance of power relations that defeats the concept of muse, yet so mythical, and leaves room for this liberating love. It nevertheless reveals the power of the gaze, that of an artist towards her model, but also that of a director towards her actress, and vice versa. Céline Sciamma wrote the role of Heloise for Adèle Haenel, who reveals other facets of her talent while remaining true to herself.”
https://www.humanite.fr/cinema-un-amour-brulant-677261
Excerpt from Interview with Céline Sciamma
“The cast is central to this issue of representation.
The role of Héloïse was written with Adèle Haenel in mind. The character wrote herself based on all the qualities she has demonstrated in recent years. But it was also written with the ambition of giving Adèle a new score. Things we didn’t know about her yet. Things that, in some cases, I didn’t know myself, even though I had dreamed of them. The role is emotional and intellectual, and because Adèle works with living matter without ever stopping to think about it, she has the power to embody desires and the thought of desires. We worked with great precision on the set, especially on her voice. This collaboration is at the heart of the film, which puts an end to the concept of the “muse” to recount the creative relationship between the viewer and the viewed in a new way. In our studio, there is no muse: there are just two collaborators who inspire each other.
Alongside Adèle Haenel, you have opted for a new face.
A face unfamiliar to me but not that of a beginner. I felt that a first-time encounter with an actress could contribute immensely to the film and the story, especially in the love dynamic. I was keen to create a duo, a film couple that would have its iconic side and therefore its exceptional aspect. Marianne appears in every scene and so it was necessary to have a very strong actress. Noémie Merlant is a determined, courageous and emotional performer. A blend of precision and excess that made the character’s invention exciting, gradually revealing itself as we worked. As if this Marianne truly existed somewhere. And I owe a lot of that to Noémie.”
Press Kit
Comments
What can I say? This is the best film ever made. Period. (Puns intended). I have viewed this film maybe 70 times so far; I stopped counting at 50. The first couple of dozen times was in the cinema, and then the French DVD became available, so I watched it daily without English subtitles for a month or two (I knew the script, so it was fine and let me focus more on the actresses performances, rather than reading). When the DVD with English subtitles became available my strongest reaction was disappointment, because the Australian version has zero extra features (unlike the French version and the planned US release) and by then English subtitles were unnecessary.
Chances are you have read a heap of reviews and watched a million interviews about this film and its creation and creators. I could, and may yet, write a book (or thesis) about this film, but here I will keep it short.
The complexity of the film and the sublime performances by Adèle Haenel and Noémie Merlant make re-watching it many, many times constantly rewarding. This is because Céline has built so much complexity into every facet of the film—the script, the performances, the cinematography, the set design, the sound design—everything! For example, focus just on the sound design on one re-watch—from the distant banging when Marianne is settling into her room to remind us that the other characters are living their lives in other parts of the chateau, to the how the sounds of the fire crackling underscore dramatic moments of the film. Or on another re-watch just keep an eye on fire in the shots—for example, Marianne has flames leaping behind her as she plays the spinet for Héloïse (is Marianne a woman on fire?), and also when they are in the kitchen in the wonderfully domestic scene before they play cards. Or think about which drinking glasses are used in each scene—Marianne is in the awkward position of being middle class and an artist, but also an employee of the family. This means that when she is with the Comtesse she drinks from a stemmed glass, but when she dines (in the kitchen, not with the family) she is given a tumbler to drink wine, water, or beer from. When the Comtesse is away watch which glasses are used…
Céline Sciamma has crafted this film so that each and every scene is vital. Her writing is magnificent. Read this lecture at BAFTA (http://www.bafta.org/media-centre/transcripts/screenwriters-lecture-series-2019-celine-sciamma) for an insight into her writing process—don’t just watch the video if you want deeper understanding, as heaps was edited out of the video that is in the transcript. She has directed her actresses so that each could be at her best. Claire Mathon has filmed it to perfection. The sound design is magnificent (I bought a sound bar to view it at home once the cinemas shut down due to COVID-19. I needed audio to be better so that I could appreciate this film).
Noémie Merlant is superb in her role as Marianne, and Adèle creates so many layers of depth as she represents a woman who is at first angry and resentful, then perhaps confused and discovering new things and, finally, in love. She is magnificent in this role that gives her the opportunity to excel. One of the many things that I love about Adèle Haenel’s performance in this film is how she looks different in the film—the Héloïse that we see at the start of the film—angry & resistant—looks nothing like the Héloïse who is in love and so very playful later in the film. Adèle has control of the tiniest muscle of her face. Watch her face just after Marianne finishes playing the spinet and mention Milan—her face changes so subtly, but so powerfully.
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| Q. How are these all the same person? A. A sublime actress, Adèle Haenel. |
Merci beaucoup Adèle Haenel
Merci beaucoup Celine Sciamma
Merci beaucoup Noémie Merlant (Noémie's brilliant performance will get more space when we have the Noémie Merlant film festival. DVDs of her work are hard to obtain...)
Merci beaucoup Celine Sciamma
Merci beaucoup Noémie Merlant (Noémie's brilliant performance will get more space when we have the Noémie Merlant film festival. DVDs of her work are hard to obtain...)
Next in our Adèle Haenel Film Festival, we shall explore the short films of Adèle Haenel and after that, the works of Céline Sciamma as director and as screenwriter.
Fin de Projection, Cannes 2019(If I need cheering up this is my go-to video)
In the cinema after the premiere they are excited & moved by the film's reception, but try and play it (fairly) cool—they are professionals after all...
But when in private, they show how huge it is for the film to be as loved as it is!
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| I just love that Céline was kind enough to share these photos with us. Merci Céline. |
Solo Confinement, Confi-Crushes & Confi-Projects
Solo confinement led me to embrace Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu, Adèle Haenel, Céline Sciamma and Noémie Merlant as my confi-crushes (merci to Céline Sciamma for introducing me to this term). I decided to go full fangirl with no constraints, because, quite frankly, when you are in confinement alone there isn't a hell of a lot to do and quite a few hours in the day.
A HUGE thanks to Noémie Merlant for the two InstaLive events that she did early on in the lockdown when things were looking pretty bad. I was very anxious at that time & was avoiding people, even when out walking & I saw almost no one for a couple of weeks. Those InstaLive events were my main human contact those weeks. Merci Noémie and especially because of the shout out to those of us in solo confinement. I really appreciated that mention (because no one else, such as politicians, seemed to notice that some people were totally alone in difficult times...).
This site and the Chemin de Portrait site are my confi-projects and they are great in having got me to write every day and to look into the films more deeply than I would have otherwise. They are great projects!
As part of the solo confinement I decided that the purpose of money was to bring me joy, so, as well as all the DVDs, I bought myself a bunch of autographed photos of Adèle Haenel and also these ones shown below. One day I will get autographs signed in person, but until then these will have to suffice.
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| Signed by Adèle & Noémie |
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| Signed by Adèle, Noémie & Céline |
For more Portrait content...
A nice podcast is Podcast of a Lady on Fire from two US-based fangirls.
Please add sources of more good quality Portrait-related content to the comments below & I will update the page.
On a personal note: Reflections on my favourite films
Harold and Maude (1971) and Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu (2019): What could they possibly have in common?Before Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu (2019) emphatically became my favourite film of all time, my 'favourite-ever-film' had been Harold and Maude (1971). I never got so hooked into Harold and Maude as I have become with Portrait, but it held the 'my favourite film' spot for a very long time. For forever, in fact. These two are the only films that have ever been my 'favourite film'. At first glance they appear to have nothing in common but, as I have reflected on it, they actually have exactly the same core themes, though the films are worlds apart.Harold and Maude tells of Harold, a 20 year old man who is obsessed with death and whose main hobby is faking his suicide, with another hobby being attending funerals. So far, so weird. At a funeral he meets Maude—a 79 year old woman who lives life to the full and who also has the hobby of going to funerals, but as a celebration of the cycle of life, not to fixate on death. The two become friends and fall in love. Maude shows Harold how to live and to love, and how art and music are intrinsic to living a good life. The film ends with some sadness, but mostly with joy and with hope. (The film also has a great soundtrack of Cat Stevens songs.) The film celebrates how a life can be changed by having experienced love and how the memory of love can sustain us in growing as a person, as well as how art and music are intrinsic to living a rich life (Harold and Maude also includes the joys of the natural world as part of a good life.). So, the main themes of my two favourite films ended up being identical. I find this rather comforting, as it suggests to me that I am, ultimately, an optimist. |
Rewatch Notes
Sublime. Awesome. Gorgeous. So well crafted...
If you haven't guessed, I liked the film.
: )
| BTW: I have also made a guide to visiting filming location of Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu. It is at https://chemindeportrait.blogspot.com The title of the guide is a play on the Chemin de St Jacques, an ancient pilgrimage route in Europe (that I would be walking right now if it wasn't for the pandemic...). I suspect that many a fangirl will make a pilgrimage to the filming sites. I will, once travel is allowed and safe. I will improve the guide as more information comes to hand and when I can get to France and do firsthand investigations. |
This film, more than any I have seen, rewards you when you take the time to watch it again. This rewatch revealed to me the sounds of someone walking through Marianne's studio and opening a squeaky door during her lesson with the young women. This is not accidental and, as I interpret it, signifies that her teaching studio is not a cathedral, it is a working space. It is Marianne's workplace—she is a working woman who is making a living by painting and teaching young women (perhaps the daughters of the upper classes or middle class?) to paint. This could be seen as a very feminist act—she is giving these young women the means by which they can, if talented enough, become independent businesswomen of their own, as being an artist was one of the few ways that women could support themselves in that historical context. Also worth noting are the many casts of perhaps Roman or Greek statues that are on the shelves of the studio. These statues are of naked men, so Marianne is teaching her young charges how to paint the male body so they can tackles the 'grand subjects' of art that require this specific skill, that, she tells us later, is denied to women painters. These seemingly minor things—the sound of footsteps and the backdrop of plaster casts of statues are just the beginning of the rich world that Céline has created for us.
Céline reveals in the commentary on the French version of the DVD ('Why didn't they do one in English? Céline is fluent in English, she could have done it easily!!', I cry out in total frustration) how she is manipulating us as viewers in that first scene—she creates a desire in us to see the face of the unknown subject of the sketches that open the film, she guides us to look at Marianne's hands just before they curl up when she sees the painting, she creates a desire to see the painting that has caused such a visceral response in Marianne. We, as viewers, are being totally manipulated by Céline. She has designed each and every element—images, where our focus is, sounds, and subtle signifiers that we probably miss on the first viewing—so we follow with her on the journey that she has planned for us. I won't go through each scene in this way, though I will probably come back when I can and add to this writing at a later date, but just in this opening scene we can see how Céline has an amazing eye to detail and a very carefully planned path to take us on.
There are a few articles about the film with the title ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ Filmmaker Céline Sciamma Is Trying to Break Your Heart' (https://www.indiewire.com/2019/12/portrait-of-a-lady-on-fire-filmmaker-celine-sciamma-interview-1202193537/). She is deliberate and considered in this goal. And she succeeds.
There are a number of turning points in the film, and a major one is in the scene of Sophie and Marianne in the kitchen after Marianne has dried off. The first big one is when Marianne asks if she 'may be curious'. Sophie shifts from servant mode to fellow employee mode and they chat about the family that employs both of them and Marianne tries to pump Sophie for intelligence about them. Marianne's curiosity has been shown on her arrival as well—the way she is looking all around as she climbs the stairs to her salon shows her trying to get an understanding of this new place of employment that she will be staying at for the next week. Presumably this mode of 'staying at the house while painting a portrait of a family member' is the usual operating procedure for a person in her line of work (has she had other affairs at other houses? I wonder...).
The scene that follows with the comtesse shows another turning point—the comtesse invites Marianne to sit down, there are refreshments on the table, and she chats with Marianne, almost as an equal. Other major relationship shifts include when Marianne asks if Sophie want a child (and uses the casual tu, rather than vous when asking that question)—this changes their relationship to sisters supporting each other, not just fellow employees. When Héloïse, who has been roped into assisting Sophie by Marianne, reaches her hand to assist Sophie get up off the sand their relationship shifts as well, and Héloïse has joined the sisterhood. I won't go through them all now, but there are many turning points when relationships shift, not just the bonfire scene.
The introduction and revealing of Héloïse is preceded by Céline manipulating our desire to see her—we are teased by the painting with no face, by the dress walking down the hallway that is then revealed to be carried by Sophie, and then by seeing only the back of Héloïse's head for the first few minutes of our introduction to her. Céline has created the desire to see Héloïse's face over the previous portion of the film. And the reveal is worth the wait! Stunning beauty is revealed to us.
The abortion scene has a hidden treasure. The role of the women who provides the abortion for Sophie is played by Christel Baras, the casting director of the film, and who has worked with Adèle since her very first film, and who got her back into cinema when they met at a party and she cast her for Naissance des Pieuvres. The credits have another gift regarding this scene. Christel Baras' role is listed as: 'La faiseuse d'anges'. This translates as 'the angel maker'. An angel maker is a woman who end an unwanted pregnancy for other women. I suspect that angel makers have been part of human society for millenia.
The abortion scene has a hidden treasure. The role of the women who provides the abortion for Sophie is played by Christel Baras, the casting director of the film, and who has worked with Adèle since her very first film, and who got her back into cinema when they met at a party and she cast her for Naissance des Pieuvres. The credits have another gift regarding this scene. Christel Baras' role is listed as: 'La faiseuse d'anges'. This translates as 'the angel maker'. An angel maker is a woman who end an unwanted pregnancy for other women. I suspect that angel makers have been part of human society for millenia.
The scenes at the start and end of the film show us that Marianne has been very successful in her career. She is running an art school for well off young women, her hair is done in a more ornate way than earlier in her career, and she is wearing a beautiful cape and outfit made of expensive fabric. She is a woman who has made it, even if she needs to use her father's name when entering a painting in an art exhibition. Though she is successful, the patriarchy is still there, controlling what she can do...
The final scene in the theatre in Paris is Adèle at the top of her game! She takes us on a huge journey in those three minutes—remembering when she first heard that piece of music, what followed with Marianne, the devastation of loss, what she has lived with all these years, remembering Marianne's advice to her, and then remembering all those things they spoke of remembering when in bed on their last night together. Knowing that she has known true love and that it is hers forever. There is joy in this realisation. She also makes me see aspects of her life in the intervening years—the painting that Marianne did of her on the wall of her sitting room that reminds her of Marianne each and every day, of sleeping with a man, when she knows what she would prefer, and how she has just got on with life in that mode because she had no other choice (other than the path that her sister chose, as the convent option had been removed from her options.) Those three minutes take us on a rollercoaster ride.
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