Passion brews quietly between an artist and her subject, until together they create a space in which it can briefly flourish, in this sumptuous eighteenth-century romance from Céline Sciamma, one of contemporary French cinema’s most acclaimed auteurs. Summoned to an isolated seaside estate on a secret assignment, Marianne (Noémie Merlant) must find a way to paint a wedding portrait of Héloïse (Adèle Haenel), who is resisting chattel marriage, by furtively observing her. What unfolds in exquisite tension is an exchange of sustained gazes in which the two women come to know each other’s gestures, expressions, and bodies with rapturous intimacy, ultimately forging a subversive creative collaboration as well as a delirious romance. Charged with a yearning that almost transcends time and space, Portrait of a Lady on Fire mines the emotional and artistic possibilities that emerge when women can freely live together and see one another in a world without men.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
New 4K digital master, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New conversation between director Céline Sciamma and film critic Dana Stevens
New interviews with actors Adèle Haenel and Noémie Merlant
Interview with cinematographer Claire Mathon from the 2019 Cannes Film Festival
Interview from 2019 with artist Hélène Delmaire on creating the paintings for the film
PLUS: An essay by film critic Ela Bittencourt
