![]() Throughout the latter half of the movie, Sciamma ties Héloïse and Marianne’s romantic connection to the latter’s artwork. This exchange is among the most erotic moments in a film full of them. The painting isn’t just a work of Marianne’s it’s every bit Héloïse’s as well. Marianne, once comfortable in her position as the spectator, is shaken by the realization that she is capturing a subject who sees her, too. “If you look at me, who do I look at?” Héloïse asks knowingly. ![]() Perched on her chair, the subject maintains her gaze on the painter and rattles off a list of idiosyncrasies she’s noticed about Marianne: how her face changes when she’s upset, the little movements the artist isn’t aware of. Thus begins one of Portrait’s most affecting sequences, in which Héloïse echoes Marianne’s small observations. When Marianne tells Héloïse mid-pose that she would “hate to be in her place,” for example, Héloïse is quick to correct her: “We’re in the same place.” In a sentence, Héloïse rejects passivity and puts them on equal footing. Read: Why “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is the most enthralling movie of the year In exploring these stakes, the film suggests that the act of seeing isn’t one-directional, even and especially in artistic pairings. Portrait of a Lady on Fire toys with the meaning-and the thrill and terror-of being seen. In the scenes that follow, she challenges both Marianne and the viewer, upending familiar ideas about the docile role of the muse. (“That explains the looks,” she says ruefully.) Alarmed by the distortions she sees in Marianne’s painting, Héloïse unexpectedly offers to sit for the artist. But days into the arrangement, Héloïse learns of Marianne’s ruse. While Héloïse is initially unaware of Marianne’s intent, she still falls within the tradition of silent inspirations. So Marianne must undertake a nearly impossible feat: observing Héloïse imperceptibly on their afternoon walks and painting her in secret afterward.Ĭéline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire-a quiet but exhilarating film set in 18th-century France-begins with this dramatization of a conventional artist-muse relationship. Prior attempts to depict her have failed because Héloïse refuses to pose. When Marianne (Noémie Merlant) arrives to paint her, the artist is informed that she must do so without Héloïse ever knowing of the portrait’s creation. In the week before she sets her clothing ablaze, Héloïse (played by Adèle Haenel), the titular character in Portrait of a Lady on Fire, is a reluctant subject. This story contains spoilers for Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
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