Portrait Of A Lady On Fire - Tumblr Posts
I want to talk about that final scene, where the camera rests on Adèle for a long time and we watch her slowly come undone. […] What do you hope that shot leaves the audience with?
Sciamma:
Themselves.
It’s cinema, and it unveils itself as cinema. It’s a reverse shot between the two characters. And at that point, it’s not about the story anymore. It’s about you being in your seat, her being in her theater seat, and you watching. First you’re watching Héloïse, and then you’re watching Adèle Haenel performing, and then you’re watching a film ending, with room for your own love, because you connect with the journey of emotion. And you think, Oh, it’s sad, but suddenly, she lightens. She smiles. And maybe you reconsider your own past love.
In solitude, I felt the liberty you spoke of. But I also felt your absence.
Speaking of translations and echoes potentially lost in translation, I thought it was really interesting to see the echo of “attendre” (to wait) in these two scenes. In the English translation, Marianne asks, “What about Heloise?” But in the French, Marianne actually asks Sophie, “We are not waiting for Heloise?” Which ends up being echoed in Heloise telling Marianne that Heloise has imagined all the gestures while waiting for Marianne. This is such a great play on who is waiting for whom, because of course it was Heloise who fled after the first kiss and so we, and Marianne, are given the impression that Marianne is the one waiting for Heloise to overcome her fears and doubts. And that sense is echoed in Marianne asking Sophie if they’re not going to wait for Heloise so they can have dinner together? (Sophie’s answer in French is also interesting given the context of why Heloise isn’t joining them for dinner, isn’t present: “Elle est souffrante.” / “She is in pain.”)
But Heloise turns that expectation on its head when she says she has spent the time waiting for Marianne by “imagin[ing] it all.” If Heloise was suffering, it was the sweet suffering of stewing in and stoking her desire for Marianne. Céline is not only making us (read: me) scream with the idea that Heloise has a fertile imagination, but Céline is flipping the script as to the active and the passive. “To wait” is a passive status–whatever is to happen must be initiated outside of yourself, to give the agency to the other party. And both Marianne and Heloise were waiting… but in ways that were brewing, ready to act once the opportunity appears. But that initiation needs to be mutual, consensual. In this space of waiting, they’re also trying to read the other’s signals–uncertainly–and it’s only when they finally speak, communicate, that everything starts to happen and a new collaboration–a romantic one–begins.
The dialogue is so much more elegantly threaded together than I thought.
When you’re observing me, who do you think I’m observing? PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (2019) dir. Céline Sciamma
You dreamt of me? No. I thought of you.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) dir. Céline Sciamma
“do all lovers feel they’re inventing something?“
movie posters series based on pulp fiction covers. 1/4
prints already available here
“I wanted to challenge politically the kissing scene, which traditionally either has the surprise kiss scene thanks to a rain shower for instance, or the obvious kiss scene thanks to mustard on the corner of the lips, for instance, and it is generally carefully scripted as ‘They kiss.’ Or ‘They passionately kiss.’ And then it’s on the actors’ shoulders. It seems to rely a lot on them because it’s their bodies and fluids and interaction, but it shouldn’t be. It’s fake. It’s not about finding the magic. Actors should always be part of the elaboration of an idea, especially with intimate scenes. So I wanted to craft a scene that would embody the sexiness of consent. People who are questioning the idea of asking for consent in France, they do exist. They are brave fighters for the culture of French gallantry who say that asking for consent would not be sexy, it will break the mood. Some of the French critics thought the film lacked flesh, precisely because to them eroticism is about conflict. […] At some point I came up with the idea of them having to unveil their mouths like they would undress themselves. So I put a scarf, justified by a strong wind, pressed on their lips and thinking you would see their heavy breathing through the moving cloth.”
Céline Sciamma on creating a new first kiss
Noémie Merlant as Marianne in Portrait of a Lady on Fire | Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (2019) | dir. Céline Sciamma
Do all lovers feel they’re inventing something?
how am i to feel warmth again when as i dismantle my walls, bare my naked form, and offer you my very light, you build from me, shape my skin to leather and use my bones as cement to keep yourself warm?
phoenix, feral kenyon, 2020
I am homesick for a love I will only ever experience through song.
feral kenyon
that chip on your shoulder looks a lot like where i last laid my lips.
phoenix, feral kenyon, 2020
lesbian migraine, it’s a thing
ovid / x / bilbo fabriko / hozier / @sawasawako / gustave doré / kurt vonnegut / antonio canoza / tim siebels / “Portrait of a Lady On Fire”
Portrait of a Lady On Fire in Sunglasses
2022
A quick semi study I did in Procreate.
Oh yes, I’m baaaaaaack.
“I feel something new.”
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) dir. Céline Sciamma
Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (2019) dir. Céline Sciamma
some Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) posters i made (click to enlarge)
네이버에 올렸지만 여기에도 올려봄 근래 본 영화 중 제일 좋았고 오랜만에 리디자인 욕구가 타올랐다 정식 개봉 날짜도 빨리 나왔으면…!