When I watched Portrait of a Lady on Fire, I felt the film’s intensity, but I didn’t fully understand how Céline Sciamma managed to create so much tension with so “little” happening on the screen. Then I came across this video by lessons from the screenplay that breaks down one of the scenes, and it made me understand how every little detail was used to create this tension. The video essay argues that the power of the scene lies in the deliberate use of camera framing, blocking, pacing, and silence.
Initially, Marianne is framed as the observer, hiding behind her canvas, while Heloise sits exposed.
Sciamma makes a deliberate choice when Heloise challenges the dynamic, having Marianne go to hear in five steps, and in the director’s words, six steps would feel complete, but five steps feel as if there is still a question in the air, so the viewer is left wondering if the next step will be the kiss or not.
As Heloise challenges that dynamic, making Marianne understand that they are in the same place, Marianne flees the frame back to the safety behind her canvas. But now, the camera slowly pushes in on Heloise, enlarging her presence in the frame until she is framed as Marianne was at the start of the scene, and Marianne is reframed from Hélène’s point of view with an even wider frame, with their power dynamics completely reversed.
I appreciate how the video connects these techniques back to the film’s broader themes. The scene is more about than who has the upper hand, but dismantling the idea of power to dominate, instead creating equality between the two.
The only limitation I found is that the video focuses very narrowly on one scene, which does make the analysis for that scene very rich, but it doesn’t cover how the film’s overall painterly look and candlelit lighting contribute to the same themes. However, it further emphasized that Portrait of a Lady on Fire is not just a story of romance, but also of how cinematic choices can convey love, gaze, and equality, even without a score.
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