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Home  2020  Portrait of a Lady on Fire
»2020 Season
FEB 12, 2020, 7:30pm

December 3, 2019 by Susan Taunton

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

(Céline Sciamma, 2019, France)
The Loft Cinema

“Made by a filmmaker who is herself, as we say in English nowadays, on fire… Sciamma is practically throwing off sparks and hot coals.”

—Hollywood Reporter

Brittany, France, 1760. Marianne, a painter, is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young lady who has just left the convent. Héloïse is a reluctant bride to be and Marianne must paint her without her knowing. She observes her by day and secretly paints her at night. Intimacy and attraction grow between the two women as they share Héloïse’s first and last moments of freedom, all whilst Marianne paints the portrait that will end it all.

»more info at film website

Céline Sciamma (WATER LILIES, Cannes 2007 Un Certain Regard; TOMBOY, Berlin 2011 Jury Prize; GIRLHOOD, Cannes 2014 Directors’ Fortnight Opening Film)

Winner, Best Screenplay and Queer Palm awards at Cannes (2019), and nominated for Palme d’Or

Winner, Best Feature at Hamburg and Melbourne Film Festivals (2019)

Winner, Best Feature and Silver Hugo, Chicago International Film Festival (2019)

“A Masterpiece. A devastatingly unforgettable story of love and memory. As perfect a film as any to have premiered this year. Razor-sharp and shatteringly romantic. A profoundly tender story about the process of self-discovery and becoming.” —Indiewire

“Made by a filmmaker who is herself, as we say in English nowadays, on fire. At this point, Sciamma is practically throwing off sparks and hot coals as she enters a confident, bigger-risk-taking phase of her career.” —Hollywood Reporter

Filed Under: 2020

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