I had the misfortune of missing out on this year's Cannes Film Festival, and while I usually prefer Berlinale's chilly pleasures and the Mostra's replenishing sunshine, this year's roster made me think twice about my life choices. Thankfully, during a recent trip to Lyon, I got to catch several films during their French theatrical releases and during special Cannes retrospective screenings. It was during one of these screenings that I got to catch up with French filmmaker Céline Sciamma's fourth feature film, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, a breathtaking tour de force that is as mesmerizing on a stylistic level as it is rewarding on an emotional one.
Set on a remote island in Brittany circa 1770, painter Marianne (Noémie Marlant) is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait young aristocrat Héloïse (Adèle Haenel). The snag is that her unhappy subject refuses to pose; Héloïse mourns the death of her sister and is to be married to a noble Italian suitor ...
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