—————A manuscript that cannot be published because the content is too radical or too sensitive————
This love story that took place in 1770 is a story of two young women, a story that belongs only to women.
In feminist theory, there is a term called "male gaze". Whether in the real world. Still in various literary and artistic works, women are often in a state of being stared at by men. They are the objects to be viewed and the objects to be materialized. They also see themselves from a male's point of view, and define themselves with male evaluations. Women seem to have no subjective feelings and thoughts, as if they are not a living person.
The real world in "Portrait of the Burning Woman" is just such a world. Both Elois and her mother sent their portrait to her husband's home before getting married. Her mother’s portrait was hung in the living room at home: “This painting was sent here before me. When I first walked into this room, I saw my portrait hanging on the wall.” There was a portrait first, then a portrait. There is her; the portrait occupies a more important position than her. In her home, she first saw herself in the painting, a beautiful and gentle bride-to-be in the eyes of a male painter, and a qualified future wife who could be married in the eyes of her husband. The person in the painting always wears an elegant smile. This is the role she needs to play throughout her life. It is conceivable that women’s love vows in such a world are not "I do," but "Look, this is your wife. I will always dress up as her to satisfy you."
But what does she really look like as a living person?
We can only speculate on her inner world through just a few words. Marianne said that Eloise "is not sad, she is just angry." Eloise's mother replied: "Do you think I have never experienced this kind of anger? I know this feeling very well." But the topic ended there. . There is another similar plot in the film. Marian, who had just arrived, asked Sophie the maid about Eloize's sister: "Did she die of illness?" "No." The topic stopped abruptly.
Eloize's mother, Eloize's sister, and thousands of women in the world, no one knows or asks what kind of people they are. The world does not care about this issue, and it is almost a taboo to even talk about this issue. The duty of a woman is to be a good person in the picture. They can naturally feel that other women have the same pain as themselves, after all, empathy is human instinct. But even in the same room, they are like dummies in two adjacent frames. They couldn't speak, and after a brief gaze exchange, they turned their heads away from their companions, and renewed their perfect smiles to greet the male gaze from outside the frame.
In the beginning, Marianne was the agent of the male gaze. She is a painter who draws blind date portraits for Eloise. Her job is to stare at Eloise, paint her like a qualified wife, and then hand over the work and marry her. Marianne is the stare, and Eloise is the stare. Their relationship is not harmonious at this time. Marianne is always very anxious, worried that Eloize will see her identity through. Eloise always wears dark clothes and wraps herself in a hood, and she never gives the sweet smile that people in the painting should have-she uses these methods to avoid staring.
Marianne began to portray the stared Eloize, but Eloize, who should be sitting opposite the painter, was always absent. Facing a green dress and an empty shell, after all, it is impossible to draw a vivid picture. No matter how beautiful the clothes are, no matter how beautiful they are, they are not real Eloise. There is no essential difference between Marianne's first edition and the previous painter's work: there are exquisite pleats and laces, but no face.
Eloize said unceremoniously: "Is this me? I don't think she has a life? Is that how I am in your eyes?"
The person in the painting will never evaluate whether the painter's depiction is vivid. This sentence alone is enough to make the stare-being-gaze relationship begin to dissolve.
The turning point of the story is that Eloise's mother leaves home. There are only three young women left in the house—Eloise, Marianne, and the maid Sophie. There are no male characters in this story. It is women who sing and dance at the bonfire, women who extinguish the fire, women who sell things, and women who secretly give birth to abortions. After the mother left, the world suddenly became a utopia without male power and male gaze. The three girls are no longer cautious and melancholic in the painting. They can suddenly communicate with each other frankly and without restraint: "Have you tasted love? (Based on the context, this is actually asking if the other party has had sexual experience." "I got pregnant when I was unmarried." "Do you want a baby?" "No." They can even help the maid, Sophie, have an abortion and draw the scene of the operation very calmly. These conversations and behaviors are considered sensitive today, let alone in 1770. In a world without men, women should have lived like this.
In this ideal world, the stare-gazer relationship is further dissipated. Marianne saw the real Elois, and she gradually could describe every aspect of her: "When you are upset, you will hold your hands, when you feel embarrassed, you will bite your lower lip, and when you are angry, you will stare at her. Others watch." She saw Eloize's smile, which was different from the charming and gentle smile of the person in the painting. Her smile was vivid and aggressive. Some people criticized the actor Adela Hanel who played Eloiz for not being beautiful or young enough. I think the person who said that was completely wrong. Eloize must not be a porcelain doll with no pores on her face, she should be like Hanel. She should have such stubborn and provocative eyes, a strong jaw, and sometimes slightly frowned eyebrows. The girl who can angrily accuse Polanski is a very suitable casting.
Eloize also saw the real Marian. She once thought Marian would not understand herself: "Because you have choices and I don't." And now she knew that a female painter could not be naked, but her Marian would paint quietly. She now confirmed that they, who are also women, share the same suffering and sorrow, as well as the same bravery and resistance. She said: "I and you are equal, we are in exactly the same situation. When you look at me, I also look at you."
In an ideal world, the gaze of a lover should be like this. It is equal, mutual gaze, which is to be seen, understood, and accepted as a person. People grow up in the eyes of their lovers, and rediscover themselves when they grow up in the eyes of their lovers. Between men and women, women scrutinize and reshape themselves according to the standards of their lovers; but it is not the case between women. They see in the eyes of their lovers that they have never understood or dared to confirm themselves. At the end of the film, Marianne puts a mirror in Eloize's private part and drew a portrait of herself on Eloize's book in front of the mirror. She drew a woman with disheveled hair, blushing cheeks, and extremely firm eyes. How different is that painting from the portrait of a woman hanging in the living room! From then on, she will be a living person with lust and faith, rather than a dummy piled up with skirts and smiles. This kind of growth was given to her by Eloize's gaze.
But such love may only be maintained in a utopia without patriarchy. After his mother came back, the first male character in the film appeared-the messenger responsible for sending the portrait of Eloise to Milan. He nailed Eloize in the painting with two thick wooden boards. Strictly. The appearance of a man is equal to shackles and the end of freedom. Afterwards, many men appeared in the picture. For example, many men were talking to each other in the art exhibition, but Marianne stood alone next to her painting. She squeezed past many male colleagues alone, and no one talked to her. In the end, she could only find some comfort in Eloise's portraits. The Eloize in that painting seems to have the shadow in Marian's memory, and it seems to be just a lady in a standard painting holding her children. She is still a female painter who can only paint naked men secretly and can only sign her father's name. And she is still a rich lady who must marry a child. This is what the real world really looks like. The girl’s utopia collapsed, and they had no choice but to say goodbye like Orpheus and Eurydice.
View more about Portrait of a Lady on Fire reviews
