Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Portrait of a Lady on Fire | Céline Sciamma | 2019

ANALYSIS  of the opening scene

This sequence from Céline Sciamma’s film, Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), it’s the opening scene. Marianne sits on a chair as a model in the studio, and she is teaching girls how to draw. Then everyone focused on Marianne’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Then a cut to Marianne jumps into the sea to get back her wooden box. The last scene is Marianne on the shore and asks the man where she should go. The beginning created through a sequence of shots that Marianne’s subtle reaction when she saw Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and a close view of the painting. This shot leads us want to know what the painting wants to convey, what does it mean to Marianne. The scene is essential because it kindles spectator’s interest to continue watch the movie that is crucial to the movie.  

The scene begins with a medium shot of Marianne sits on a chair as a model in the studio. When she sees the Portrait of a Lady on Fire, her lips slightly opens, chests rises and falls, breathes through her mouths, and she clenches her fist instead of open hand. Marianne asked ‘ Who brought that painting out?’. There is a silence for a few seconds, then a girl confesses. At this moment, both girls in the screen and spectators are nervous and curious that is the girl did something wrong? Marianne said ‘ No’, and she’s still staring at the painting and feel like tears well up in her eyes. Obviously, we can infer that this painting definitely evokes Marianne’s special memories and touched her. 

The camera panned in for a close view of Marianne’s painting, then a reverse shot to Marianne. This reverse shot, slowly pushes on Marianne’s face, seems like the audience are stepping into her memories. Marianne sits on the boat and hold the box carefully shows that this wooden box is very important to her. Her box drops into the water, but the men remain unmoved. Marianne jumps into the cold seawater to retrieve the wooden box without hesitation, she regrets nothing. This shot presents that Marianne is an independent women. When the box falls into the water, there’s a panic on her face. Also we, the audience, get very nervous because we have been “sutured” into her perspectives and we become her as the box drops into the water. When she comes back to the boat, we are relieved because the wooden box is back and Marianne is safe. 

At the last moment, Marianne goes ashore. The man just helps her to put things on the shore, then leaves without even a word. While Marianne is wringing her wet clothes, she asks the man ‘ Where do I go?’. Then the man responds with indifference. The short conversation tells us Marianne is the first time to come to this place, and we want to know what’s going to happen with this solitary girl.

In this essay, I argue that women in that time was in a weak position. The men do not offer any help to Marianne when her box falls into the water, and they just look at her; the man just puts Marianne’s heavy baggage on the shore and leaves, when Marianne asks him, he replies simply. He knows Marianne’s destination and she has a lot of baggage, but he still chooses to leave directly. These two part reveal that people in that time is indifferent to women’s demand.

Notes:

This is the first film analysis i wrote in my life and it’s also the first assignment for my research project International Feminist Cinema🎬. I chose Portrait of a Lady on Fire because this lesbian film presents the female gaze. 🖼 👩‍❤️‍👩

                                                   2022.6.23