PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
[PORTRAIT DE LA JEUNE FILLE EN FEU]
Director Céline Sciamma (GIRLHOOD, TOMBOY) won the Queer Palm and Best Screenplay awards at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival for this sweeping, brooding romance set in rugged, 18th-century Brittany. When budding painter Marianne (Noémie Merlant, PAPER FLAGS, HEAVEN WILL WAIT) is commissioned by an Italian Comtesse (Valeria Golino) to paint a portrait of her soon-to-be-wed daughter Héloïse (Adèle Haenel, DEERSKIN, THE UNKNOWN GIRL), the assignment is complicated by the fact that Marianne must not disclose to Héloïse the reason for her visit to the remote coastal abode. Masquerading as a hired companion, Marianne must closely observe her subject by day, etching her likeness into memory in order to paint in secret by night. When the ruse is revealed, however, the women allow themselves to form a much closer bond, igniting a fire that will lead to self-discovery and the liaison of a lifetime. DIR/SCR Céline Sciamma; PROD Bénédicte Couvreur. France, 2019, color, 121 min. In French and Italian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Run Time: 121 Minutes
Opening Date: Friday, May 23, 2025
Genre: Romance drama