Portrait of a Lady on Fire

On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.

(Note: this interview was conducted on March 11th before mandatory quarantine and the closure of all domestic theaters. ) This year, history was made during the award season.

Back in April of 2019, when Paramount released the first trailer of its much-anticipated Sonic The Hedgehog movie, the target audience’s reaction was not what the studio expected. Fans of the game hated the big-screen version of their beloved furry blue hero, taking to social media to loudly chastise its “creepiness” and “horrible teeth” that looked “terrifyingly human”.

Set in 1770 Brittany, on the northern coast of France, Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu), written and directed by Céline Sciamma, is a delicate love story between two young women. Marianne is an artist who learned to paint from her father (in a time when women were not allowed into art schools).