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I am so lonely at work. I miss a lot of things about you and us. I love you.

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When you’re observing me, who do you think I’m observing?

Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (2019) dir. Céline Sciamma

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“Is it difficult for you to say goodbye to your muses as a filmmaker and if you’re going to miss the process of having to make the movie?” | NYFF Q&A for Portrait of a Lady on Fire

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really love this review somebody left under Portrait of a Lady on Fire on Letterboxd !

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Alright… I know 99% of you people haven’t seen it yet, but can I like… talk about (without giving away spoilers) how Portrait of a Lady on Fire engages Art without Power and how - by allowing the characters to practice this Style -  the framing becomes mutually exclusive? Because one of the most striking things about Heloise and Marianne’s relationship is that you cannot put it under “a dynamic driven by authority”, or a relationship that is driven by “conflicts of power” - not from the start/definitely not towards the end - since Marianne doesn’t exercise Power to define Heloise’s identity, and Heloise never disrupts Marianne’s progress. Its their sentiments that sustains and corresponds Work.

Because Art in itself is an intimate item that both women encounter through a shared space (by design), and instead of making the Love between them institutional - they aren’t bound up through certain installations (see: Titanic) - the movie renders their identities visible. So the characters don’t infringe each other but embody how collaboration affects participation and thus enables the work to be free; to become an experienced form of Self-expression (the articulation between artist and muse). That’s quite a bone to pick because I feel that Celine simply reflects how she perceives Art, as honestly as possible.

But I don’t know, it feels new because it’s not tied to systems particularly, but emotions, and the dialogue that comes with it; how the movie chooses to portray something so utterly natural and existent. Remarkebly all of this extents into other dynamics, too - such as having the maid, Sophie, who forms connections and has her own moments of being portrayed as well, so to speak. Or Heloise’s mother who gets to demand but also needs to step back.

And it’s so genuine? Its so consciously compassionate that when three women read poetry it becomes a moment of Fun and the engagement is too real! I think thats one of the many reasons why Portrait hits a different chord because these characters feel limitless, such as Art, in the most Self-realized of ways.

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CÉLINE SCIAMMA Screen Talk with Tricia Tuttle | BFI London Film Festival 2019: "Are you also finding resistance to the film?“

This video contains major spoilers for Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

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“This is also a film about loving art and how art consoles us and how love - sentimental education is also an education to art. You know, every love story has its score, its song, or its books and sometimes you will read a book that will make you think about a past love story that has nothing to do with the book but this circling curation between love and art is also at the center of the film.”

— Celine Sciamma (Cast and Crew Q&A | NYFF57)

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cinematic art made by Céline Sciamma

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Toronto, Ontario - September 06: (L-R) Actor Adèle Haenel, director Céline Sciamma, and actor Noémie Merlant from the film ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ poses for a portrait during the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival on September 06, 2019 in Toronto, Canada.

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“One of the manifestos of the film is actually to get rid of this idea of the muse, which is a nice word that actually hides the participation of women in art history. A muse is this fetishised, silent woman who is inspiring just because she is beautiful. We know that even though for a long time opportunit[ies for women] were to be models, these models were in the room, they were co-creating, they were one of the brains in the room, so of course the goal was to actually portray that; to make a love story and co-create dialogue with that quality so [that] in the process of the film, where we take you, she becomes that brain. On the set I think movies always reflect the way they were done and the politics of th[is] set was that there was no muse… the set was quite cerebral.”

— Celine Sciamma (Cast and Crew Q&A | TIFF 2019)

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Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) dir. Céline Sciamma

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Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) dir. Céline Sciamma

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When you’re observing me, who do you think I’m observing?

Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (2019) dir. Céline Sciamma

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“I feel something new.”

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) dir. Céline Sciamma

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Ampio orizzonte, Ettore Tito 1910 // Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Céline Sciamma 2019

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“Clara, why don’t I dream of you? That photo of the two of us – I have it still, you and I looking hard into each other and my painting behind us. … Clara, I feel so full of work, the life I see ahead, and love for you, who of all people however badly I say this will hear all I say and cannot say.”

(Adrienne Rich, from Paula Becker to Clara Westhoff)