Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Short description
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a French drama set in Brittany in 1770. Marianne, a painter from Paris, arrives at an isolated estate on the coast with a commission: to produce a wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young woman who has just left a convent and is being married off to a suitor in Milan. Héloïse refuses to sit for the painting as a protest against the match, so Marianne must work without her knowledge. Presented to Héloïse as a walking companion, Marianne studies her by day and paints her from memory at night. As the two women spend time together in the period before the wedding, their connection deepens into intimacy and attraction.
Céline Sciamma directed and wrote the film, and Bénédicte Couvreur produced it. It is the fourth of the six features Sciamma has directed, following Girlhood and preceding Petite Maman. Noémie Merlant plays Marianne and Adèle Haenel plays Héloïse, with Luàna Bajrami, Valeria Golino, Christel Baras and Armande Boulanger in supporting roles. The film had a budget of about 6 million USD and took roughly 10 million USD at the worldwide box office.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire holds a rating of 8 out of 10 on IMDb from around 126,000 votes and 8.1 out of 10 on TMDB from roughly 3,000 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 9.1 out of 10 from 338 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- The role of Eloise was originally written for Adèle Exarchopoulos.
- In one scene, the girls repeatedly sing the phrase “non possunt fugere.” This translates from Latin as “they cannot escape.” The same phrase can be heard during the end credits.
- All of Marianne's artwork was created by artist Helena Delmaire, who collaborated closely with Noémie Merlant during the film's production.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
