Portrait of a Lady on Fire 2019

      This is a French film with subtitles.  The setting is on an isolated  French island in Brittany at the end of the 18th century.  A young painter, Marianne is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Heloise without her knowing.  The portrait is a gift for Heloise's future husband.  Previously, a male painter was hired and afterwards the painting was partially erased.  Heloise is told that Marianne is to be a companion.  In order to make the portrait, Marianne will need to observe her model by day to paint her portrait at night.  She has the dress that will be worn but she will need to do Heloise's face, posture, hands and arms from memory.

     Heloise and Marianne become closer as they walk on the beach together dayly.  Heloise is contemplating the impending reality her arranged marriage and the passing of the days before she leaves.  Heloise's mother, the Countess, goes away for five days and the household is able to relax more on their own. 

     There is use of an unspecified hallucinogenic drug that slows down time.  Heloise has not chosen her marriage, she is forced against her will to marry.  Some drinking of wine, smoking of a pipe, positive themes of friendship, communication and love.

      I thought it was interesting to see the clothing and social mores of this time period.  I didn't remember that even women smoked pipes and there were no cigarettes but there was cured tobacco.  More wine is consumed than water because there was often uncertainty about water purity.  The scenery at the beach is very beautiful and it's interesting to see the painting in it's different stages of development.  5* (I really liked this movie)   

122 min, Drama directed and written by Celine Sciamma with Noemie Merlant, Adele Haenel, Luana Bajrami, Valeria Golino, Christel Baras, Armande Boulanger, Guy Delamarche, Clement Bouyssou.

Note:  Imdb 8.1* out of 10* with 51,654 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 98% with 30 critics 92% with 463 audience ratings, IndieWire 4.5* out of 5* David Ehrlich, Amazon 4.9* out of 5* with 304 reviews, Roger Ebert 4* Tomris Laffly, The Guardian 5* Peter Bradshaw, Common Sense Media, Danny Brogan 5*, age 15+, positive 4*, role models 4*, violence 3*, sex 4*, 3* drinking, drugs, smoking.

Special Note:  The paintings done by Marianne were all created by Painter Helene Delmarie.  Noemie Merlant worked closely with Helene to paint perspectives and sight lines for the portrait.  The reason why the film features no musical score is for the audience to be more involved with the rhythm and to make the music arise elsewhere.  The movements of the bodies and the camera are the music.  Marianne's father was also a painter and the style shown is more of a modern style and not that of the late 18th century.  The French title is Portrait de la jeune fille en feu.