Portrait of the Burning Woman: Memories of Lovers

Newell 2022-05-21 19:21:31

First published in the adventure movie

This year's second full score work in Cannes was given to a film that was completely unexpected before the competition! Celine Sianma was also a director who was too late to watch before the game, but the film made a great article in a very small format, which is really a surprise. The film tells the story of the female painter Marianne was invited to the island to paint a portrait of the girl Eloys who is about to get married. During the portrait process, as the two interacted, the eccentric Eloys gradually opened up his defenses, and the two Also developed a love.

△French female director Céline Siamma (2 from left) and the crew of "Portrait of a Burning Woman" in Cannes. Si Anma was shortlisted for "A Kind of Concern" with "Daffodil Blooming" in 2007; "Tomboy" won the Berlin Teddy Bear Award-Jury Award in 2011

The film has a highly concentrated and dramatic structure, most of the time there are only three roles (painter-girl-maid), and the total time for the appearance of all men in the film does not exceed two minutes (about only five or six shots...three scenes) That's it). The main content is focused on the relationship between the painter and the girl, and the writing is extremely delicate. Adela Hanel has contributed extremely superb acting skills and is definitely a strong contender for this year’s best actress. From grotesque to gradually learning to smile, to experiencing sex and love, to the helplessness and sentimentality of being forced to be separated, the whole The arcs of the characters are very convincingly and meticulously expressed, and the performance of the scene listening to the concert at the end of the film will be the decisive highlight moment!

The film has extremely beautiful pictorial photography. The cliffs on the isolated island and the turbulent sea correspond to the desolation of the characters and the depression of the social environment; the candlelight in the room is delicately captured in the way of classical paintings. At first glance, the film is a classic-style indoor drama. As the story unfolds, the theme of "the voice and body of women suppressed in history" emerges. Eloise, who refuses to cooperate with the painter, is fighting the arranged marriage in her own way. She is eager to experience love. On the other hand, although the female painter Marianne is skilled and creative, she still uses her father’s name to participate in the salon exhibition. .

The paragraph in the film where the three discuss the story of Orpheus seeking his wife in the underworld can be described as the central idea: for a long time people have only expressed the fate and tragic beauty in this story, but in the interpretation of the three women, Orpheus walked out The "turning back" signed by the underworld is a deliberate "choice." "He chose the memory of his wife instead of her." "This is the choice of the poet, not the choice of the lover." This story has also become a pre-narrative at the end: the portrait is complete, Eloise is about to get married, and Marianne is about to leave. As Marianne walked through the dark corridor and was about to reach the door, Eloise called her "look back" behind her. When Marianne turned around, he saw Eloise wearing a wedding gown (she had watched the illusion of this scene twice before at night), like a statue. This moment is really wonderful, not to mention the intensity of the sensationalism is surging. The most important thing is that the rewritten story of finding a wife in the underworld has been rewritten again, this time it is Eloise who represents Uridis. The choice made-the choice of the lover, the choice of the lover who cannot be kept together, the choice to stay in each other's memory.

Therefore, the two reunions at the end-one is a portrait (recognizing the two people's common memory), and the other is the person (meeting but very far away, and at the same time connected to each other because of the music), which echoes the main plot of the film. It's neat and delicate, and it's touching. The stare at the end is probably the most tear-jerking use of Vivaldi's music in the movie.

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Extended Reading

Portrait of a Lady on Fire quotes

  • Sophie: We were walking by the cliffs. She was behind me and vanished. I saw her broken body below.

    Marianne: Did you see her fall?

    Sophie: No. I think she jumped.

    Marianne: Why do you think that?

    Sophie: She didn't cry out.

  • La Comtesse: You've made me laugh. It's ages since that happened.

    Marianne: I didn't do anything.

    La Comtesse: You're here. It takes two to be funny.