Portrait of a Lady on fire aka Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu, written and directed by Celine Sciamma - 9.5 out of 10

Portrait of a Lady on fire aka Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu, written and directed by Celine Sciamma

9.5 out of 10

If you ask this cinephile, Portrait of a Lady on Fire is only surpassed this past year by the astounding, miraculous Parasite - http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/08/parasite-written-by-jin-won-han-and.html - but it is far superior to the other nominees for the Golden Globes, such as Pain and Glory - http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/12/pain-and-glory-written-and-directed-by.html - or Joker - http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/10/joker-based-on-work-by-bob-kane-bill.html - for the latter, we can all agree that Joaquin Phoenix is magnificent, but we may disagree on the value of the ‘rest’ of the motion picture…

Indeed, Portrait of a Lady on Fire has competed for the most important cinematic trophy in the world, the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival with Parasite and the latter has won, but la Jeune Fille en Feu has won the awards for Best Screenplay and the Queer Palm for 2019, together with other most than merited prizes.

This fabulous film ‘portrays’ the love affair between two women, at the end of the eighteenth century, at a time when this kind of affection was not just out of the question, it could result in death – as in fact it still does, in some Islamic states mainly – when the protagonists could not even think of a future for their affair – this viewer thought for some moments that they could perhaps contemplate running away together, but then he dismissed the thought and realized that the idea was probably totally absent from their minds, given the time and the moeurs…

Noemi Merlant is resplendent and perfect as Marianne, the female painter commissioned to do the portrait of Heloise aka equally astounding and sublime Adele Haenel, daughter of La Comtesse aka Valeria Golino, the third excellent artist in this mesmerizing motion picture, the one that played lover of Tom Cruise in the memorable Rain Man.

In the opening scenes, Marianne is teaching other women to paint, with Portrait de la Jeune Fille in the background, an occasion for the recollections that start with her trip by boat to this island in Brittany, during which her material falls into the sea, not far from the shore apparently, and the artist jumps into the water to recuperate it and then she reaches the coast and then the house of the comtesse, where she learns that another painter had tried to render the image of the young woman, without success and furthermore, there had been a tragedy in the family.

When she talks with Sophie, the servant, Marianne learns that the sister had died, while they had taken a walk near the cliffs, the woman disappeared, only to be found dead, after the maid says she had killed herself and when asked how does she know, she says that she had heard nothing and the sister would have shouted if this had been an accident.

The painter and the Jeune Fille would walk together, and the artist would try to paint at night, for the agreement states that she would not reveal the nature of her job, but the two seem to grow closer together, especially after a zenith or nadir, depending on how we look at it, the moment when the painting is revealed, Heloise is not ecstatic about it, then Marianne wipes half the face out and it is decided to start all over again, in spite of the fact that La Comtesse wanted initially the ‘contractor’ to depart, once she saw the destroyed portrait, but her daughter protests.

The Lady that would be on Fire – she has not been yet at this point – agrees to sit for the artistic process and this is when the two women really become infatuated – although the precise moment is not clear and they would later talk  about what they thought at one point or another and would reveal their intense emotions to each other in moments of intimacy – they would kiss and become carnally acquainted with each other, though this film is splendid in that it does not follow the path established now, wherein almost all romantic features show more than nakedness and the competition seems to be which would show more now…

Indeed, in a remarkable documentary called American Cinema, it probably is Kathryn Bigelow – or anyway, another woman filmmaker, if it was not her – who states that in the past, movies were so much better at conveying eroticism, passion and so much more, especially because they would not show skin, expect in minimum doses, not against that tradition and the secret, the mystery of what is not exposed contributed to the value of the work of art…

Alas, Heloise is about to be married to man in Milan, and notwithstanding her disinterest, if not opposition to this project, there seems to be no alternative and the two lovers have to be resigned with the idea that after a rather short time, they would have to separate and these moments are rare, sensitive, emotional, touching and yet without the excesses that destroy so many of the similar scenes, in which protagonists ruin the effects, by pushing too far the desperation or some other aspect in the role…

Portrait of a Lady on Fire is, together with Parasite, the best motion picture you can see this year, for this cinephile, there are only The Two Popes and 1917 for the undersigned left to see, but if we talk Rocketman, well this movie is a joke when compared with La Jeune Fille…