Well, that was.... incredibly satisfying (you thought I'd say lit, didn't you?)
I don't know how long I could expound about how Portrait of a Lady on Fire completely took me in and made me awed by how writer/director Céline Sciamma slowly (and it may be too slow for some, certainly not for the majority of critics) develops this relationship between an artist and the figure of her focus, what it means for anyone with creative aspirations to open oneself and find what *you* see, with a laser focus, on how faces and eyes and bodies and just these two amazing women look at each other on screen - Merlant and Haenel have some of the most electric chemistry of any performers I've experienced in a film, it's that damn good - or how she has the bravery to bring in moments that may confound a little (that feast where all the women start singing a hymn or some type of song out of nowhere, leading to a practically literal representation of the title) and disturb (what happens with Sophie about two thirds of the way through somehow made me shocked by how simply Sciamma shows what happens to her), while her camera is so focused on getting us to see HOW art and that process needs time to develop when it comes down to the soul, but.... What I'll try to bottle up in this is to say this:
You know the term "Male Gaze" when it comes to certain (a lot, too many) filmmakers? Sciamma showed me what the "Female Gaze" is like in all of its uncompromising hues. More importantly, this is just an artist with a vivid, sometimes surreal and harrowingly romantic point of view - not to mention, these two women are just staggering in what they're able to achieve here.
It made me feel like I've seen the rebirth of the French New Wave - the New-New, more precisely. Ok, I'll stop now.
I don't know how long I could expound about how Portrait of a Lady on Fire completely took me in and made me awed by how writer/director Céline Sciamma slowly (and it may be too slow for some, certainly not for the majority of critics) develops this relationship between an artist and the figure of her focus, what it means for anyone with creative aspirations to open oneself and find what *you* see, with a laser focus, on how faces and eyes and bodies and just these two amazing women look at each other on screen - Merlant and Haenel have some of the most electric chemistry of any performers I've experienced in a film, it's that damn good - or how she has the bravery to bring in moments that may confound a little (that feast where all the women start singing a hymn or some type of song out of nowhere, leading to a practically literal representation of the title) and disturb (what happens with Sophie about two thirds of the way through somehow made me shocked by how simply Sciamma shows what happens to her), while her camera is so focused on getting us to see HOW art and that process needs time to develop when it comes down to the soul, but.... What I'll try to bottle up in this is to say this:
You know the term "Male Gaze" when it comes to certain (a lot, too many) filmmakers? Sciamma showed me what the "Female Gaze" is like in all of its uncompromising hues. More importantly, this is just an artist with a vivid, sometimes surreal and harrowingly romantic point of view - not to mention, these two women are just staggering in what they're able to achieve here.
It made me feel like I've seen the rebirth of the French New Wave - the New-New, more precisely. Ok, I'll stop now.