Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

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  SceneItReviews

  10 / 10

  One of two foreign language films on this list, Portrait of a Lady on Fire transcends the language barrier to deliver a thoroughly authentic tapestry of love, gender and unbridled passion. Celine Sciamma’s direction is effortlessly stunning, putting together what might be the best shot movie of the year, in such a thoughtful and vibrant manner. Each frame of the film feels plucked off a canvas, and each line of dialogue from the depths of Sciamma’s heart. The movie tells the tale of a woman struggling with freedom, but subsequently becomes a story of the bond-breaking power of unshackled love, and its purely illuminating effects. Sciamma employs a deft understanding of semiotics and ;pillow-shots’ giving her bold tale time to sit with the audience, and absorb our attention with its symbols, and vividly engrossing performances. Adele Haenel gives one of the best performances of the decade, and Noemie Merlant is not far off; the two share a magnetic chemistry on screen that adorns the movie with a rich sense of belonging oozing from the four corners of the screen. The film is contemplative, patient, and majestic, and it all builds up to what might be the best final scene in any movie this year; If Celine Sciamma doesn’t get a nomination, I have to riot, because Portrait of A Lady on Fire is one of the most inexplicably miraculous movies to ever grace the big screen.

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