CÉLINE SCIAMMA

PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE

Brittany, France, 1760.

Marianne is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young noblewoman who Marianne must portray without her knowing. Intimacy and attraction grow between the two women as they share Héloïse’s first and last moments of freedom, and a portrait that may end it all.

Céline Sciamma debuted in 2007 with her first feature, Water Lilies, at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section. Her follow-ups Tomboy (2011) won the Panorama Jury Prize at Berlinale while Girlhood (2014) was the opening film of Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) is her fourth acclaimed film.
Sciamma also wrote My Life as a Zucchini and Being 17 (both 2016).
Cannes Film Festival 2019 (France)
Winner, Best Screenplay and Queer Palm
Golden Globe Awards 2020 (USA)
Nominee, Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language
GENRE: Romance, Drama
FEATURING: Noémie Merlant, Adele Haenel, Luana Bajrami
RATING: R21

DURATION: 120 min

LANGUAGES: French (with English subtitles)
Céline Sciamma's masterpiece — Little White Lies
Even without showing men onscreen, Sciamma depicts the myriad ways in which the patriarchy constricts the lives of her female protagonists — The New Yorker
What a thrillingly versatile film-maker Sciamma has proved to be — The Observer