Still from Portrait of a Lady on Fire: two women in period dress, one in green and one in red, rest their foreheads together and hold each other on a beach, with cliffs behind them.

Portrait of a Lady On Fire

122

Minutes

Directed by:

Céline Sciamma

Starring:

Noémie Merlant Adèle Haenel

Synopsis

Heralded by many as the film that rewrote the textbook on the female gaze, Portrait of a Lady on Fire is the film which propelled Sciamma to worldwide fame, earning her a Golden Globe nomination. The lesbian period drama, which had people flocking to cinemas to experience the most intense look-exchange in film since Carol, was chosen by all of us at CFF to celebrate our 45th anniversary. A love story in-the-making, the film unites two stellar French talents – Adèle Haenel and Noémie Merlant – in an entrancing, slow-burner romance on the coast of Brittany.


Still from Portrait of a Lady on Fire: two women in period dress, one in green and one in red, rest their foreheads together and hold each other on a beach, with cliffs behind them.
Still from Portrait of a Lady on Fire: a close view of two women's faces side by side in warm light, one with her eyes closed.
Still from Portrait of a Lady on Fire: two women in period dress, one seated in green and one standing in red, face each other in a bright room with white panelled doors.
Still from Portrait of a Lady on Fire: two women in 18th-century dress stand close together in a room, one looking at the other with a faint smile.
Still from Portrait of a Lady on Fire: a woman in a green dress stands on a rocky beach looking out at waves breaking on the shore.