Beautiful film: Portrait of a Lady on Fire

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  • April 10, 2020 at 8:25 am #113511
    Avatar photoBilly_T
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    Was looking forward to Celine Sciamma’s film ever since I heard it was coming out, last year. Wasn’t able to catch it at a local theater, but it’s on Hulu now.

    Just loved it.

    Beautiful cinematography. Almost as if painted. Which is fitting, given the subject matter. It’s set on an island off the coast of Brittany in 1760. A young woman, fresh out of a convent, is about to be married off to an Italian nobleman whom she’s never met. Her mother, a countess, wants her painted. The painting seems to be a kind of deal-maker or breaker. Almost a fetish of sorts. She hires a young painter to pretend to be her daughter’s companion while secretly painting her at night.

    The plans all go awry.

    Its relative “slowness” may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I thought it just made the film more beautiful and added “suspense.”

    There’s a scene on the beach at night so stunning and strange . . . well, I won’t spoil it for those who want to see it. Sciamma makes it all the more powerful because there’s not a musical score per se. But there is music at pivotal moments, like that one. Out of nowhere, seemingly.

    Easily one of the best films of the last ten years or so.

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