Author: Yonca Talu / "Film Review"
Proofreading: Issac
The translation was first published in "Iris"
Shot by photographer Claire Masson and directed by Celine Sciamma, "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" is full of sensuality, grace and warmth, and is set in the 18th century. Masson steers the camera like a swipe of a pen, inspiringly capturing the unbridled relationship between artist Marianne (Nomi Merlant) and soon-to-be-married aristocratic woman Heloise (Adele Harnell). growing affection.
The story unfolds primarily in an interior space lit only by candlelight, but instead of indulging in nostalgia, it finds beauty in Marianne and Eloise's ephemeral relationship, immortalized on canvas and on screen .
Masson, who recently won several awards in the United States for "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" and Matti Diop's "Atlantic," I spoke with her over the phone about how to create Sciamma's first foray into period drama. visual language.
Q: You shot The Atlantic in 2018 and then Portrait of a Lady on Fire, both of which tell a love story but take place in completely different contexts and are aesthetically polar opposites, how do you Looking at the work experience of these two films?
"Atlantic" was shot in Senegal in the spring, while "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" was shot in France in the autumn. Even though both films tell a love story from a female perspective and both take place on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, they are indeed very different films. So, I never compared them, but looked for the right tools and found their own unique style for each. "Atlantic," Mati Diop's first feature-length feature, required me to fully immerse myself in a contemporary Dakar, through Mati's eyes and the way she combined handheld documentaries with genre aesthetics Wish found this out. On the other hand, "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" is a period drama carefully choreographed by a veteran director, whose artistic creation and collaborative approach involve different requirements.
Q: I heard that in preparation for "Portrait of a Lady on Fire," you visited the Louvre and other museums in Paris with Celine Sciamma and Elena Delmaier, who completed Marianne's paintings in the film. artwork.
The purpose of our visit to the museum together was to find Marianne's style of painting, from which it developed the style of the film. We hope that Elena Delmaier - a contemporary painter of Marianne's age - will develop her own taste and skill while staying true to the spirit of the 18th century. One of the painters we admired was Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, who had an exhibition in Paris while we were preparing the film. Corot was a 19th century painter known for his landscapes, but he also painted some very personal and moving portraits that convey the intimacy and affection that Celine and I identify with. We also admired the paintings of Jacques-Louis David with their wonderful precision, and were drawn to the modernity and simplicity of Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin's work. Seeing these paintings in person made us aware of their more subtle qualities, such as their texture and lustre, which inspired us to create our own artistic touch.
Q: In Portrait of a Lady on Fire, there are two shots that stand out for their visual effects: one is a panning shot of Marianne staring at Eloise as she walks on the edge of a cliff against the wind, and the other is in that scene. A well-choreographed bedroom scene where the two swan like swans before they make love for the first time. How did you develop this symbiotic relationship between the camera and the heroine?
Our main focus was on the eye contact between the two women and making the attraction between them apparent on the screen, especially the cliffside scene you mentioned. The power of panning is that the camera becomes a human observer, moving with the rhythm of the actress.
Celine and I initially considered getting a Steadicam operator to shoot the outdoor scenes by the sea, because they are protected natural areas and difficult to film. But it soon became clear that I shouldn't frame these shots because they represent not only the character's perspective, but Celine's and mine's.
As for the vivid picture of the two caressing, it echoes a previous shot - they stand very close to the cliff, covering each other's faces. These are things Celine thought about early on, kind of like Marianne's hunch about Eloise in the movie. We think this sensual way of photographing women's faces is somewhat reminiscent of Bergman's films, who excel at portraying women and their relationships.
Q: How did you express Marianne and Eloise's relationship with the lighting?
I was influenced by the portraits I saw in the prep, you don't feel where the light is coming from, you just see it emanating from the faces and faces of the characters. I've also tried to lighten Marianne and Eloise in a similar way, rather than flattening their bodies to elevate their image. I want to give the impression that they themselves are the light in the film, which creates an abstract, painting-like feel.
Q: You mentioned the ghostly appearance of Eloise in her wedding dress, which gave the story a supernatural quality. Did you think about making Eloise between reality and imagination right from the start?
Celine and I talk a lot about the ghost of Eloise, but it's important to save it for the end of the film - we need to first understand that Eloise is a woman and make her as alive as possible. And when Eloise's ghost came to light, we wanted it to be just as vivid, it was almost a way of giving her a new body.
Q: That was also a way of gradually turning her into a memory.
Yes, that's the heart of the story - the power and anxiety of the present tense has become the past tense.
Q: Was the ghost of Eloise done during filming or in post-production?
It was done very simply when shooting, like the illusion that Méliès would create. She would be hidden in the dark, she would appear when we turned on the light, and she would disappear when we turned the light off. The script says that Eloise disappears into the shadow of a door, as if the light obscures her. Celine encouraged me to experience the moment firsthand, like a gesture, a wink, or a passing cloud—something we're not quite sure we've ever seen.
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