Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Story

Céline Sciamma‘s new film is a sensitive love story and a powerful modern statement about the situation of women in the past and today. In the year 1770, an unusual commission leads the Parisian painter Marianne (Noémie Marchant) to a deserted island off the coast of Brittany: she is instructed to secretly paint a portrait of Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) who is soon to be married and who refuses to sit for a portrait out of protest against the arranged marriage that awaits her. Marianne observes Héloïse on her walks and paints from memory during the evening. Slowly, the looks that pass between the two women take on an irresistible attraction.

Director

CÉLINE SCIAMMA (*1980) studied screenplay writing at the Paris film school La fémis and presented her debut Water Lilies in 2007. It was followed by Tomboy (2011) which won several prizes, Girlhood (2014) and Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which ran in competition at Cannes and won Best Screenplay. Sciamma has also written many screenplays, including Claude Barras‘ My Life as a Courgette and André Téchiné’s Being 17.

Trailer