Portrait de la jeune fille en feu’ s Antipathy Towards The Male Gaze A Momentary Examination of the Mastery of the Cinematic Style

Paper by Marian Flores.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (French: Portrait de la jeune fille en feu) (Sciamma, 2019) is a French historical romantic drama both written and directed by French screenwriter and film director Céline Sciamma. Portrait of a Lady on Fire “was shot in Saint-Pierre Quiberon, Morbihan, France. The interior and exterior scenes at the chateau were filmed at Château de La Chapelle-Gauthier” (Portrait of a Lady on Fire Locations).The film itself is not inherently centered around a movement, instead choosing to focus on the concept of, “The female gaze.” Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a fictional narrative story set against the backdrop of a secluded island at the turn of the 19th century. The story centers around an impassioned and forbidden romance between two women Marianne, a painter, commissioned to paint a wedding portrait of the contentious gentlewoman of the house, Héloïse. This award-winning film received several accolades and “was voted the 30th greatest film of all time in the Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time 2022” (Ginette Vincendeu BFI). Portrait of a Lady on Fire contests the traditional concept of “the male gaze” utilizing elements of style, form, and detail oriented cinematography to remonstrate the depth of antipathy towards the female gaze. The sequence following the completion of the portrait, not only indicates a key turning point in the film, but conceptualizes this idea, adding gravitas to the film.

At the beginning of the following sequence, we see Marianne and Héloïse standing next to one
another. Having just completed the portrait, both women are all too aware of the significance that
completing the portrait bears. Marianne, with a heavy heart, gazes forlornly at the portrait and
voices her disdain for the painting, despite moments ago Héloïse poignantly mentioning that she
likes this one, referring to the previous attempts. Clearly aggrieved, the two contemplate over
Héloïse’s convictions, resulting in them parting ways for the time being. After some time has
passed Marianne seeks to find Héloïse. Unable to locate her, Marianne happens upon Sophie in
the kitchen. Sophie, the chambermaid, informs her the Madame of the house returns tomorrow.
Realizing time is of the essence, Marianne discovers Héloïse on the beach and embraces her.
Both hurt and filled with remorse over the exchange, the two share a deep, fervent kiss of
reconciliation.

The significance of the shots themselves highlight the complete captivation the audience is
under. The film is by definition a true character study driven narrative. There are no wasted
moments that we the audience aren’t inundated with relevance to the story as a whole. Each shot
bears weight with a well thought out cinematography. The sequence of the aforementioned scene
commences with a medium close up of the two characters. As the scene rolls, we’re taken into a
sustained two-shot of our leads. Marianne separates and is placed in her own medium shot then,
cut to Héloïse who is contemplating within her own close-up shot. As Héloïse paces, the shot
transitions once more to a medium, but once she turns back to acknowledge the severity of the
words she’s just heard, we’re back to a medium close up. We cut to Marianne once again who
refutes Héloïse’s claim in a medium close up shot. The exchange continues in medium shots until

Héloïse closes in on the camera, giving us a close up to create more intensity. Marianne has not
bridged the gap between the two so we cut to a medium shot. As the two contend with one
another the scene continues transitioning from medium shot for Marianne to the rising
resentment found in the close ups with Héloïse. Confronting Marianne with a loaded question the
shot changes to a close up of her, while Héloïse awaits her response. Having now answered the
question, the argument is nearing its climax, emphasizing the shot change to close ups on both
characters. The climax of the argument culminated in Héloïse walking away, changing the close
up to a medium-wide shot as she opened the door. We cut to view the hurt expression written
across Marianne’s face in another close-up shot.

Post fight, we have a close up on the flowers. The flowers themselves represent the passage of
time on their blossoming romance now dying. Panning over to Sophie, who’s currently working
on a needle point of the flowers, the close up continues delivering a parallelism to immortalizing
these flowers in the needlepoint akin to the significance of the portrait. The shot continues in
close up glossing over Sophie’s slight features. The choice to stay in close up reveals Sophie’s
delicate nature. As Marianne approaches, the shot changes to a medium wide shot of Sophie
absorbed in the needlepoint. Marianne enters the room and the shot maintains a medium wide
during their encounter. After receiving news of The Countess’ return soon, we cut to a wide shot
of Marianne rushing along the beach cliff side to find Héloïse. The magnitude in utilizing the
wide shot to capture this instance bears importance. This location is not only the site of their
burgeoning romance, but also where the two ultimately acknowledge the finality of their
relationship. Marianne hurriedly approaches Héloïse, captured by a medium shot, but stops short
to take in the image of her. The use of a wide shot as an establishing shot here, imbues a sense of

melancholy. We cut to Marianne fervently running to Héloïse in a medium wide shot. The shot
itself morphs from a medium wide, to medium, and finally to a medium close up. This is a direct
reflection of the things she’s feeling from contention, resentment, to remorse, and finally to relief
as she envelopes Héloïse in her arms. Marianne whispers in Héloïse’s ear, desperately pleading
for her forgiveness. A medium close up heightens the intimacy of this moment. The raging
waters in the background further the motif of rippling intensity the two so reverently share. The
use of the two shot connects Marianne and Héloïse once more. They reconcile with an
impassioned kiss amidst the roaring waves.

The style of the film creates this harmonious effect of intimacy in a confined space. Every
glance, gaze, and gesture is delivered purposefully by the actresses portraying Marianne (Noémie
Merlant) and Héloïse (Adèle Haenel). During the duration of the film, we see there aren’t many
diegetic visuals, this is purposely done to make the primary diegetic visual the portrait. Other
diegetic elements include the wardrobe, paint brushing on canvas sounds, breaths drawn and
exhaled and even the general room settling sounds. These work in tandem to achieve intimacy
within the narrative. The mise-en-scene takes shape in the dresses, shoes, and hair [worth
mentioning body hair on the women] explicitly portraying the film occurring somewhere within
the confines of the 18th century (Patrick, 2024). Occasionally glimpses are shown of some of the
house wares revealing more of the time and place the film transpires. Features such as a wooden
table, a cast iron pot, period appropriate vases and minimal decorations in rooms, especially
color choices, all reveal more about the era.

Maintaining momentum with growing intensity is no easy feat with the actresses performing the
dissension flawlessly. What sets the post completion portrait scene apart from the others is the
sheer vulnerability the two women shared. There is no plausible deniability here and both must
contend with the realities of what the completed portrait means for their relationship. One would
think they have nothing more than each other to play off of, but that simply isn’t true. Instead
they work off the camera as well, unabashedly staring back at you with their gaze giving each
woman a sense of agency over herself. This is not only explicitly told through the incredible
dialogue, but implicitly bolstered with the lens and camera movements. In Thomas Laffly’s
review of the film, he describes the cinematography as an “unfortunate POV of the male gaze”,
reminding the viewer that they themselves are viewing the film from said point of view (Portrait
of a Lady on Fire Movie Review (2019) | Roger Ebert, 2020).

Crucial to the development of the film, this scene, and subsequent sequence, represents the crux
of the film. In rhetorical terms, the disparagement is our climax. Marianne is wanting Héloïse to
protest the marriage, but cannot ask Héloïse to do this. The rest is falling action. Héloïse and
Marianne’s time together has come to an end. In the morning they both know they must part
ways. This underscores the themes of love and loss, memory and women’s own autonomy and
what it means to truly be perceived and understood as accentuated by, the female gaze. Operating
in a three act structure, the narrative ebbs and flows between the clear intimate dynamics of the
women. What started as stolen glances between Marianne and Héloïse evolved into an
irrevocable romance.

Following a classical hollywood narrative, Portrait of a Lady on Fire can be broken down into a
classic three act structure. The first turning point occurs when Marianne gains Héloïse’s trust by
revealing the true nature of their walks. She has been commissioned to paint a portrait of Héloïse
and destroys her first rendition in front of her. The second turning point is established during the
bonfire where Héloïse is wholly enamored by Marianne. So much so, her dress brushes by the
fire and the skirt is engulfed in flames. She maintains intense eye contact while her skirt burns.
The next day the two kiss and begin an amorous romance. After some time together a dissentious
conversation between the two takes place during which each other’s values are challenged,
illustrating our third turning point. This aforementioned scene is the apogee. Once Marianne and
Héloïse reconcile, the falling action has begun. Seeing as how there is an epilogue of sorts to the
movie, the film has been challenged to contain a four act structure. A classical Hollywood
narrative also contains romance and private goals for characters. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
depicts this and more, lending credence to the film. Marianne retains the goal to be taken
seriously as an independent painter while Héloïse finally sought agency over herself (Bfi, 2020).
In addition, it avoids common stereotypical and fetish depictions of lesbianism, allowing the
relationship to be viewed with emotional depth, rather than an objectifying and carnal lens
(Hartawan et al., 2022).

It’s of significance when we take into account the male gaze. The male gaze is explicitly rooted
in the objectification of women. Laura Mulvey (1999) writes “The function of woman in forming
the patriarchal unconscious is two-fold, she first symbolises the castration threat by her real
absence of a penis and second thereby raises her child into the symbolic. Once this has been
achieved, her meaning in the process is at an end…Either she must gracefully give way to the

word, the Name of the Father and the Law, or else struggle to keep her child down with her in the
half-light of the imaginary.”. It’s through the male lens, we see that women are something to
behold, to be admired, but never touched nor heard. As a result, these works of women are
deprived of a sense of self, hollow, and empty. In many famous works of arts and film, Mulvey
(1999) describes the medium’s portrayal of women as such, “The cinema satisfies a primordial
wish for pleasurable looking, but it also goes further, developing scopophilia in its narcissistic
aspect. The conventions of mainstream film focus attention on the human form”. Women are
often depicted naked for a spectacle and posed in an erotic fashion. In spite of this, the female
gaze was coined to combat this phenomena. Born of the term, Portrait of a Lady on Fire seeks
to contest the traditional concept of “the male gaze” with its stylistic choices to form, and
remonstrate the depth of antipathy towards the female gaze.

Works Cited:
Portrait of a Lady on Fire movie review (2019) | Roger Ebert. (2020, February 14). Roger Ebert.
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/portrait-of-a-lady-on-fire-movie-review-2019
Patrick. (2024, September 17). The cinematography of “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” – intro to
Film 2024.
https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/introtofilm2024/2024/09/17/the-cinematography-of-portra
it-of-a-lady-on-fire/
Hartawan, M., Agustinus, D., & Santyaputri, L. (2022). Content analysis OfPortrait of a Lady on
Fire(2019): The Queer Theory, Feminist Film Theory, and Semiotics analysis. Journal of
Visual Communication Design, 07(01), 2548–5350.
https://journal.uc.ac.id/index.php/VCD/article/view/2904/1971
Mulvey, L. (1999). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. In Film theory and Criticism :
Introductory Readings (pp. 833–844). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14428-0_27
Bfi. (2020, February 26). How Portrait of a Lady on Fire celebrates the female gaze. BFI.
https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/portrait-lady-fire-female-gaze
Flores 9
Haagensen-Løkke, Y . J. (2019). “Regarde-moi”: Looking at looking in portrait of a lady on fire.
Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
https://ntnuopen.ntnu.no/ntnu-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/2776627/no.ntnu%3Ainspera%3A7
6749986%3A34431113.pdf?sequence=1