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Portrait of a Lady on Fire(2020)
NEON Dec 6, 2019 | Limited
On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.
Releases
Original Release | Dec 6, 2019
Box Office
Results
$67,344
$3,759,854
$6,259,667
$10,019,521
Director & Top Cast
Technical Specifications
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: France
Summaries
Plot Summary
- At the end of the eighteenth century, Marianne (Noemie Merlant), a young painter, is teaching painting lessons. One of her students asks her about a painting of hers, which Marianne calls "Portrait of a Lady on Fire".Years prior, Marianne arrives on an isolated island in Brittany. Marriane is very passionate about her art. She travels to the Island by a small rowboat and one of her canvasses falls overboard. Marriane jumps into the water herself to retrieve it. She is hosted in the reception room of the mansion, which also doubles up as a studio. Marianne is shown to be a modern woman for her era, and she smokes a pipe.She had been commissioned to paint a portrait of a young woman named Heloise (Adele Haenel), who is to be married off to a Milanese nobleman. Marianne is informed that Heloise has previously refused to pose for portraits as she does not want to be married. The marriage will proceed once Heloise's portrait is sent to the Milanese nobleman and if he approves, The Countess and Heloise will be called for. Heloise has arrived on the Island just a few weeks ago from the Benedictines where she served in the Convent. She was brought home after her sister died, and the sister was the one originally supposed to marry the Milanese nobleman. The sister committed suicide by jumping off the cliffs. In the studio, Marianne finds an unfinished portrait of Heloise, with a full body, but no face.Marianne acts as Heloise's hired companion for her walks, to be able to paint her in secret and accompanies her on daily walks to memorize Heloise's features. Marianne tries to study Heloise's features such as the cartilage of her ears, her hands and her blonde hair. Heloise always stays ahead of Marriane on her walks, and so she is never able to get a good look at her.Try as hard as she may, Marianne struggles to recall Heloise's features from her memory. The Countess (Valeria Golino) fears for Heloise as her sister had recently died when she was betrothed against her will. The house maid Sophie (Luàna Bajrami) believes she committed suicide.On her walks Marianne starts talking to Heloise. Heloise tells her that is not willing to marry as she knows nothing about the man, she is supposed to spend her life with. Marianne tells Heloise that she does not intend to marry ever. Heloise is jealous that Marianne has a choice in the matter.Marianne finishes the portrait but finds herself unable to betray Heloise's trust and reveals her true reason for arriving. She also burns the unfinished painting of the previous artist. After Heloise criticizes Marianne's painting saying that it looks nothing like her, Marianne destroys the work. Heloise's mother is shocked to hear that Heloise is willing to pose for Marianne over the next few days (when she had decided to fire her on want of incompetence). While her mother leaves for Italy, Heloise and Marianne's bond grows.Sophie confides to Marriane that she hasn't had a period for 3 months now. Marianne knows Heloise very well by now. She knows the movements Heloise makes when she is angry, she bites her lips when she is embarrassed, and she doesn't blink when she is annoyed. Heloise also knows Marriane equally well. She touches her face when she doesn't know what to say, she raises here eyebrows when she loses control, and she breathes through her mouth when she is troubled.One evening, they read the story of Orpheus and Eurydice while debating the true reason why Orpheus turned around to look at his wife. The pair help Sophie, a maid, have an abortion using homemade remedies, and later go to a gathering where women sing and dance, during which Heloise's dress briefly catches fire. Meanwhile, Marianne is haunted throughout the house by visions of Heloise in a wedding dress.The next day, Marianne and Heloise go to a cave and share their first kiss, and passionately make love later that night. Over the next few days, their romance grows stronger. However, it is cut short by the inevitable return of Heloise's mother. Marianne sketches drawings of each of them to remember each other and bids a short farewell. As Marianne runs out of the house, she hears Heloise say, "Turn around". She turns around and sees Heloise in her wedding dress.In the present, Marianne reveals that she saw Heloise two more times. The first time she sees Heloise at a gallery in the form of a portrait, where Heloise is shown to be with a child-but also surreptitiously holding onto the book that has the sketch of Marianne. The second time Heloise is seen at a concert, overwhelmed with emotions as the orchestra plays Vivaldi's Four Seasons, which Marianne once played for her on a harpsichord.
Storyline
- In 18th-century France young painter Marianne, is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Héloïse without her knowing. Therefore, Marianne must observe her model by day to paint her portrait at night. Day by day, the two women become closer as they share Héloïse's last moments of freedom before the impending wedding. In 1760 France, Marianne is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young woman who has just left the convent. Because she is a reluctant bride-to-be, Marianne arrives under the guise of companionship, observing Héloïse by day and secretly painting her by firelight at night. As the two women orbit each other, attraction and intimacy grow as they share Héloïse's first moments of freedom. Héloïse's portrait soon becomes a collaborative act of and testament to their love. Brittany, France, 1760. Marianne is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of reluctant bride-to-be Héloïse under the guise of a hired companion. Observing Héloïse by day and discreetly interpreting her essence by night, their intimacy blossoms as the portrait progresses towards its inevitable completion. — Mae Moreno France, 1760. Summoned to an isolated cliff-side manor squeezed between the wild sea and the rugged landscapes of a wind-swept island off the Brittany Coast, for-hire painter Marianne is on a secret mission. Commissioned by an Italian countess to paint the wedding portrait of her uncooperative daughter Héloïse, Marianne has to soak up the fine detail of sad-eyed Héloïse's face during the day while posing as her promenade companion. However, as Marianne steals a glance at unsuspecting Héloïse to capture aspects of her figure on canvas at night, fleeting peeks become hungry gazes. Little by little, this delicate game of wordless intimacy forges quiet adoration between the unconventional painter and her subject. But can the liberating force of art set the lady on fire free? — Nick Riganas 1 more All
