PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE: Burning Love

This review was requested by Tania Maatouk. Many thanks to Tania for supporting Post-Credit Coda through our Patreon.

Director: Céline Sciamma
Writer: Céline Sciamma
Cast: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luàna Bajrami, Valeria Golino
Runtime: 122 mins.
2019



blues and browns
sea and stone
great rickety manor-must
grass green and fire red

these are the palettes of the portrait painter
reflected back and forth between camera and brush
eyes capturing eyes capturing eyes capturing eyes
for this is the story of a secret painter
secret lover
captured flawlessly by makers with painterly minds

a period piece about periods and periods
Portrait is an aesthetic abundance
you can swim in the visuals,
but it is the dialogue that grounds you ashore
sparse yet poetic
cutting and cool
the product of women who have been taught
that they have said too much
when they've said nothing at all

bound tight by a gorgeous array of
colorful costume cages
staring at vistas of scenery yet
stuck to a husk of a house
a shelter of no consolence
finding revelry desperately in the cracks of a campfire
a niche world of women
buffeted by boys in the bookends

their hope is a whisper

if forced to choose
my favorite component woven into the whole:
sound

our first moments with the film
filled with startling scratches
charcoal on canvas
abrupt like a tear

the primacy of breathing
moments of excitement
moments of solace
moments of captivation and rush
a baby sighing aggressively
providing calm in a moment of trauma
all suffused with the rhythm of breath

the grand cacophony of waves
drowning out thought - or perhaps
making space for it

but best of all is the soundtrack:
absent
conspicuously
no music but for three perfect moments

1) a clumsy gesture of kindness plunked out on harpsichord

2) a surging firelit harmony of haunting joy and kindling lust - my favorite moment of the film

3) a magnificent universe-consuming orchestra making good on the unwitting promise of the first

yet the greatest accomplishment must be the acting
two performers refusing to play the obvious
never oblivious
listening so closely
an escalating game of feints and ellipses
challenges accepted and deferred
infinite images issuing from the unspoken

this film's iceberg dialogue
and lingering camera
live and die on the success of the acting...
more than great,
it exceeds its container
making me truly believe in this artificial love
making this my favorite romance

eyes on eyes on eyes on eyes
each other an infinity pool
twisted by obligation
1,000 reservations defeated by 1,001 urges

turn around

5 / 5  BLOBS