Scenes, Performances, Movies – A Random Review of 2019 in Film

I personally struggle to sum up such a year in film as 2019. Whatever your tastes, your passions, your guilty pleasures, there was greatness for each and every audience member.

With that said, and my own Films of the Year to come (as well as 2019 in FILM video), I went fishing among the reeds of internet film lovers. And asked them what they liked. Be it popular, be it way under-seen, be it divisive. Thanks to all those who make up his rather jumbled, but still essential, alternative review of some of the highlights of 2019 at the movies.

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Scene – The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Jaime Davis: Pretty much every shot in The Last Black Man in San Francisco is arrestingly composed, thanks to first-time feature director Joe Talbot and cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra. Drop-dead gorgeous on the big screen, it’s even lovely to look at on my relatively teeny TV. It’s no surprise that the film has earned a number of accolades.

In addition to visuals, I adore the storied friendship between Jimmie and Montgomery (Jimmie Fails and Jonathan Majors), two people alienated in different ways from the world around them. There’s a scene in the beginning where Jimmie and Montgomery, after waiting for a bus that never arrives, skate their way from Bayview Hunters Point, their neglected San Francisco neighborhood, into the heart of the city.

In stunning slow-motion, we spy the indignant, busied reactions of folks to two black men in their city. It’s a fitting introduction to a story about the ills of gentrification and its capacity for tearing families apart. Talbot, Fails, Majors, and Newport-Berra win all the awards in my heart this year for crafting something so visually stunning with a story so vital and pressing – with every watch I fall more in love with the movies.

Scene – Joker

Amy Smith: In terms of single iconic scenes that have come from cinema in 2019, the penultimate sequence in Joker may become one of the most iconic. From the inclusion to show the fate of the Waynes in a brutal moment, to the moment that Arthur Fleck smears the blood around his mouth (and in my mind in that moment truly becoming the Joker persona), the editing, cinematography, colour palette and performance heightens this single scene to be the strongest in a film full of incredible sequences.

Scene – Dogs Don’t Wear Pants

Jaime Davis: From exhilarating Finn director J.P. Valkeapää (The Visitor, They Have Escaped) comes one of the most unusual yet highly satisfying romances of the year. After the death of his young wife, Juha retreats into a shell of work, sleep, clean, repeat. He interacts with his teen daughter mostly through post-it notes and lives a very quiet, blank existence as a mediocre dad (at best). That is until he meets Mona, a beguiling dominatrix who triggers something deep within Juha.

At first he uses Mona to disastrous results, but eventually finds acceptance in himself and his awakening identity. At the beginning of Dogs Don’t Wear Pants, you think you’re wading into dark, twisty body horror but by the final scene, as Juha joyously dances in BDSM gear at an underground club, he’s free, himself, truly at peace once again. When the estranged Mona enters and they spy each other, the walls built up around them crumble as Juha lights up like a tree at Christmas. It’s one of the most beautiful, moving resurrections I’ve seen in film this year, and the most unlikely of romantic comedies.

Scene – Marriage Story

Bailey Holden: ‘Okay!’ Shouts Charlie (Adam Driver), at his not quite ex-wife Nicole (Scarlett Johansson). It’s an okay familiar to anyone who has fought with a loved one, an okay that says ‘We are no longer talking, we are fighting. And if we are fighting, I am going to win.’

After months of trying to end their marriage as amicably as possible, it all boils over. But it’s not about those months, and the labyrinthine legal system that has kept them in this between place. Not really. It’s all the years of resentments, of petty grievances, of unspoken hatreds finally released, forming together into something unwieldy and ugly.

They lash and wail and scream at each other, trying to make it hurt. Nicole invokes Charlie’s alcoholic father, and Charlies spits that Nicole has no interest in having her own voice, she only wants to complain about the lack of one. Usually these kind of fights lean towards indulgence, especially from the actors, but writer-director Noah Baumbach builds the scene so slowly and so carefully, that this intensity feels completely earned. That and it’s harsh messiness, it’s much too human in a way that modern dramas seem so afraid of.

But perhaps to be close is to be too close, as echoed in ‘Being Alive’, the Sondheim song Charlie sings a few scenes later, ‘someone to hold you too close, someone to hurt you too deep.’ Despite this bleakness, when Charlie looses it, when the screaming collapses into tears and he drops to the floor — Nicole comforts him. Maybe it’s not in-spite, but because of this ugliness that she could. Only someone who knows you deep enough to see your worst parts, who can tear you open, can truly forgive you.

Scene – Eighth Grade

Archie Marshall: As we enter the third act of Bo Burnham’s terrific debut feature Eighth Grade, Kayla (Elsie Fisher) is at her lowest. She has isolated herself from the world and abandoned her vlogging persona. And now she and her Dad (Josh Hamilton) sit and watch the box full of her ‘hopes and dreams’ disappear into the fire. The following conversation is a moment of intense intimacy and heart.

Throughout the film, Kayla and her Dad’s interactions have been plagued by fragmentation and discomfort. But for one, brief moment, their rhythms finally synchronise and they are able to communicate how they truly feel. As Kayla asks her Dad ‘Do I make you sad?”, you can immediately sympathise with her pain. The high-schooler inside all of us has had those days where you feel like you’re not enough. But her Dad’s following monologue, recounting his joy and pride of being her father, reminds Kayla, and in turn us that we are.

It’s a moment that could have easily felt saccharine, but it’s a testament to Burnham’s writing and the honesty of the performances that the scene strikes the perfect balance of being emotionally liberating and devastating simultaneously. There wasn’t a dry eye in the theatre when this scene played and it remains one of my favourite scenes of the year.

Scene – Blinded By the Light

Jeremy Robinson: There were a number of Jukebox movies which used songs by a certain artist that was significant to the plot. There was Yesterday which used Beatles songs, Last Christmas used George Michael, but the one that pulled it off the best was the Bruce Springsteen inspired coming of age film Blinded by the Light.

Javed is a young Pakistani immigrant living in Luton England. There he suffers every day with feeling out of place, not to mention having to deal with racism. He’s an aspiring writer and poet but he’s just about to give up hope when suddenly he discovers the music of Bruce Springsteen.

In a glorious scene, director Gurinder Chadha illustrates for us the power of Springsteen’s lyrics on Javed’s life. Walking around during a powerful windstorm, Javed is on his walkman listening over and over to the songs which have just become new to him. They awaken in him an inspiration, and a feeling of kinship and that he no longer feels alone. The demonstrate this Chadha frames Javed against a wall, with the lyrics projected above him as if they have just become gospel to him. Using the windstorm as symbolism, the moment feels like a revival or a religious awakening.

We could all pinpoint the moment when we heard the songs from an artist who touched might touch you in such a way. For Javed, it just happens to be Springsteen, and as a fan myself I could share what he was feeling on screen and there is a cathartic feeling of not feeling alone. No matter what artist it may be that makes you feel the same way, Blinded by the Line demonstrates this in such a magical, and cinematic way making it one of the most joyous moments of the year.

Performance – Marlon Wayans (Sextuples)

Addison Wylie: Marlon Wayans didn’t nearly get enough credit for his multiple performance work in Netflix’s Sextuplets. But, then again, I don’t think you can fully appreciate Wayans’ dedication to such an absurd premise and roster of characters unless you’ve watched his recent work. I consider Wayans’ latest spoof movies to be guilty pleasures, but Sextuplets is a vehicle that swaps his wheelhouse gross-out humour for eccentric personalities and – dare I say – wholesome comedy.

Wayans holds the film together as Alan, a soon-to-be-father who is eager to trace his family tree. The zany siblings (all played by Wayans) are differentiated in ways that don’t rely on stereotypes and instead challenge the actor to create independent characterizations – proving that Sextuplets has significantly more effort than the cheap reputation most people arbitrarily assumed.

Performance – Billy Eichner (The Lion King)

Addison Wylie: This year’s remake of The Lion King was faced with scrutiny, seemingly, as soon as it was greenlit – understandably so. Even with the release of a trailer that featured stunning photorealistic animation, it was determined that movie goers were more concerned about the performances and how the new cast would approach their roles. Would they be aiming for a direct emulation? Would they be putting a new spin on Disney’s classic characters?

Personally, I felt most of the cast were able to submit work that allowed their interpretations to stand alone (under Jon Favreau’s direction). But, the film’s MVP was easily Billy Eichner’s vocal portrayal of Timon – sharing the comic relief with on-screen partner Seth Rogen. Most notably known for his outrageous man-on-the-street antics on TV’s Billy on the Street, Eichner was able to channel his quick-witted personality with the character’s already-established charm.

However, that’s only half of his responsibilities. In Favreau’s remake, Timon is given the extra weight of carrying sincerity; actually making Eichner the “straight man” to Rogen’s dopey rendition of Pumbaa. During these moments, Eichner possesses effective emotional range. Considering Eichner is simply using his voice to convey these feelings, this was an excellent way to show viewers how he can step outside the box.

Performance – Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood)

Justin C: After his long awaited Oscar win for The Revenant in 2015, Leonardo DiCaprio returns to the big screen in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as fictional Hollywood actor Rick Dalton in the 1960s whose career is on the decline. And DiCaprio delivers yet another stunning acting performance unsurprisingly, along with having great chemistry with Brad Pitt.

This is a very difficult role to pull off. Rick Dalton is a bad actor who is finding it difficult to get roles, while DiCaprio is meant to be one of the best actors currently working in real life. Yet, DiCaprio made Dalton very realistic and made people believe he is actually a poor actor. You could see DiCaprio’s acting range through Dalton, where he was so relaxed when speaking with his best friend but stutters when speaking to his agent.

The scene where Dalton was auditioning but forgot his next line while stuttering also felt genuine and unforced. Making use of stutter to convey being nervous is very difficult to master but DiCaprio managed to make it seem natural and convincing. When DiCaprio broke down in the van after failing an audition was also very relatable, as it’s what happens to a lot of us when we get upset at ourselves for not doing our best when we know we can do better. Using the words of Julia Butters’ character, what DiCaprio did as Rick Dalton was some of “the best acting I’ve ever seen in my whole life”.

Performance – Renée Zellweger (Judy)

Amy Smith: Judy Garland’s The Wizard of Oz is in my top ten films of all time, so I have always appreciated her as a performer. It is so tragic to not only hear about her past, but to see it recreated with a performance as strong as Renée Zellweger, who vanishes into the role of Garland.

Not only portraying the struggles that she went to, but also showing hope in that madness and a longing for a good life with her children, it only makes the performance more tragic when you find out what truly happened after the events of the film. This is a film that may be structured simply as a bio-pic, but the performance elevates it to another level and only a performance like the one Zellweger gives has that ability.

Performance – Jonathan Majors (The Last Black Man in San Francisco)

Michael Frank: As you grow older, it becomes harder to describe the sensation of losing a community. You haven’t necessarily lost anyone or anything to death. Nor have you lost these people and things due to a spell of forgetfulness. Time and circumstance have caused these feelings of loss. Immaterial feelings that Jonathan Majors captures in The Last Black Man in San Francisco.

Playing a beautiful second fiddle and best friend to Jimmie Fails, Majors represents this lack and loss of community with grace and power. His constant attempts to fit in, be liked, and be accepted resonate regardless of your background. For those of us that have gone back to a place we used to know and felt unwanted, we feel Majors’ pain, frustration, and ultimate acceptance. His performance deserves endless rewatches, endless articles, and endless praise.

Performance – Constance Wu (Hustlers)

Pop! Pour! Review: When you bring up the film Hustlers, most people will think of Jennifer Lopez’s performance, which is rightly so. But she is not the only actress in the film to give a show stopping performance – Constance Wu delivers a heartfelt and raw performance. Wu plays Destiny, a low level stripper who works her way up to the top, with the help from Jennifer Lopez’s Ramona.

Constance Wu plays the role perfectly and is able to show her ability as an actress, since Destiny is such a fully rounded character. From playing the new girl at the strip club to the head of a high-dollar scheme, Constance Wu is able to bring the vulnerability when needed but also brings confidence to this character. Wu’s acting ability stands out in one particular moment when she has to transition from emotion to emotion in what feels like one long drawn out scene. From bringing an injured ‘client’ to the hospital, looking for her daughter, then bringing her to school. She goes from confidence to terror back to confident. If voters check off Jennifer Lopez for a nomination, they should also remember Constance Wu.

Performance – Elisabeth Moss (Her Smell)

Michael Frank: A performance that stuns as much as it weakens your defenses, Elisabeth Moss gives the best acting this year in Her Smell, outside of Adam Driver in Marriage Story. Her controlled mania mesmerizes you, filling up the screen in a larger-than-life way. Her portrayal of a rocker’s ego should live much longer than other performances that have been given more awards buzz.

Through the five vignettes of the movie, she fluctuates from being completely unlikable to irresistible to heartwarmingly resilient. Her voice is perfect for the role. Her manner changes at the drop of a hat and her ability to seamlessly wreck and repair situations and movies continues to be unmatched. Her acting has helped define this decade and this performance is one more layer to that absolutely fantastic cake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdRGH4mbTdI

Performance – Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)

Justin C: Joker was an extremely controversial movie in 2019. However, people generally praised Joaquin Phoenix’s take on the Batman villain. Phoenix fully displays the tragic nature of the Joker with a more unique approach as Joker was a dark and gritty character study rather than a superhero film.

The late Heath Ledger, who won an Oscar for The Dark Knight, is generally considered the standard of a good Joker. Therefore, people may compare Phoenix and Ledger’s respective performances; however, both are equally amazing. Phoenix displays more internal emotions as his version focuses on how an ordinary Gotham City resident undergone so much bullying and mental struggle to become one of the most well-known comic book villains. Contrastingly, Ledger displays more emotions externally as his version of the character is already a well-developed and experienced villain, ready to wreak havoc anytime on Gotham City.

Phoenix’s Joker was more subtle while Ledger’s Joker was showier, but both had given their all in playing such a complex character, with Phoenix reported to have lost 24 pounds of weight and developed a laugh and character that audiences would not identify for the film. Phoenix’s portrayal is definitely widely acclaimed as one of the best performances of the year.

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Movie – Loro

Bailey Holden: It isn’t hard to read Trump into Paolo Sorrentino’s Loro, especially in the centralised, hyper speed monoculture of the internet, where Berlusconi has long faded into history. But unlike the ideological and shallow American films quote-unquote about him, Sorrentino and long time collaborator Toni Servillo are actually interested in what’s inside the man.

Servillo does some his best work in the exceptional scene where Berlusconi, losing faith in his persona, that saccharine, hollow smiles, tries to convince himself of it’s reality by calling a random woman and telling her he’s building the apartment of her dreams. He slowly convinces her, not only of the apartment’s reality, but to commit to buying it. Underneath the parties and excess the film was so heavily marketed on, there is a sad, empty man. The beautiful young women are just a way to hide from his own morality, if he can seduce them — whilst ignoring the influence of his money and power — then he isn’t really ageing.

Like much of Sorrentino’s work, despite the stylistic grandeur, brought as always by cinematographer Luca Bigazzi, the films scale is surprisingly small, mostly staying in Berlusconi’s mansions once we reach them after the subverted mythologising of the films opening. But that grandeur arrives in the final scene, amongst the wreckage of the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake, fire fighters portentously pull out a statue of Christ. As much as Sorrentino wants to understand Berlusconi, he doesn’t look away from what his presence really means — a great spiritual death.

Movie – Under the Silver Lake

Jenni Holtz: Under the Silver Lake is director David Robert Mitchell’s first film released after It Follows. His new film is much weirder than the 2015 horror, but it has the same distinctive visual style and inventive use of score and sound that set It Follows apart from other horror films.

In Under the Silver Lake, Sam (Andrew Garfield) finds himself on a quest to find Sarah (Riley Keough), a woman who disappeared from his apartment complex shortly after the two met. Sam is in not in a great place. He’s behind on rent and spends most of his time alone in his apartment, deep in spirals of research on conspiracy theories about hidden messaging in pop culture. Sarah’s disappearance sparks his interest, pushing him to venture outside his home and see his the subject of his obsessions play out in front of his eyes. The movie is full of twists and oddities, making for a strangely beautiful film unlike any other.

Movie – Non-Fiction 

Bailey Holden: I’m less surprised that Non-Fiction has been widely misunderstood and under appreciated, as I was when Olivier Assayas’ last film, Personal Shopper, received a similar reaction. On a superficial level, they couldn’t be further apart; Non-Fiction is a light Woody Allen-esque comedy about the love lives of costal elites, whereas Personal Shopper was a serious drama about death and spirituality. 

But underneath, the films are of a piece. Both were accused of messiness because their thrusts are not narrative, but thematic. They have more in common with an essay film, with F for Fake, than they do with Annie Hall. 

Assayas takes a theme, a central question, and interrogates it from as many angles as possible. In Non-Fiction, he’s concerned with the necessity of fiction, publishing in a fading literary world, and necessary fictions, how honest a relationship should really be. Tied together by Léonard (Vincent Macaigne) who writes barely disguised auto-fiction about his affairs with his publisher’s wife Selena (Juliette Binoche).

After flowing from technological progress, to political campaigning, the film ends on a hilariously dark punch-line and one of the only justified meta-jokes in modern cinema, reminding us that this too is a fiction — to talk about fictions, we must fictionalise. And Assayas proves that a light film, doesn’t have to be a minor one.

Movie – Our Time

Bailey Holden: Carlos Reygadas’ messy three-hour epic, Our Time, about the disintegration of an open marriage — the couple played by himself and his actual wife Natalia López — has largely been forgotten, occasionally dismissed as a let down, if not an outright failure.

The film is undoubtably frustrating, and not only for fans of Reygadas’ as he takes a firm step away from his previous work into this slow, unfocused realism. The film seems to run all over the place without ever moving, the couple keeps coming back to the same fight, over and over.

And seldom has a film focused on a more frustrating lead character, Reygadas’ poet, Juan, goes from hilariously pathetic to outright repulsive pretty quickly. He is the ugliest self-insert since The House That Jack Built, but played much straighter than Lars Von Trier’s provocation. Of course, all artists are painting a self portrait, it’s impossible not to, but the lack of obfuscation in that process feels almost perverse, it’s uncomfortable and raw.

But despite that strange openness, we’re never truly let into the heads of Juan or his wife, Esther. In the endless arguments as much is unsaid as is said. The resentments never get to take form as they desperately try to hold something together. Neither are quite ready to accept that it’s over, but know that it is, and it probably has been for a long time.

All the dense emotions, all the unspoken tethers that tie this relationship up into something bounded and unworkable, Reygadas compares to the violent brutality of a bull. Humans may be more complex, but we are no less defined by our animal nature. And all the films strange detours and missteps seem to come together in these final moments into something simple, pure and transcendent.

Movie – Your Body Remembers When the World Broke Open

Michael Frank: In 2019, the best piece of filmmaking you need to watch that Netflix released was Your Body Remembers When the World Broke Open, written and directed by Canadian women Kathleen Hepburn and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers. Playing out in real time with Tailfeathers starring opposite fellow indigenous Canadian Violet Nelson, the film follows two women in the aftermath of an assault to Nelson. Tailfeathers happened to be walking by, and so the two experience the next 90 minutes together, figuring out the following course of action.

Serious, moving, and real, the story works as any coincidental relationship and any situation in life would, with arduous difficulty in making important decisions. It deals with weighty themes like assault and abuse with a tender yet firm sense of reality, deciding to let you sit with these characters instead of rush with them. This film is one of the most important of the year, and I personally urge you to seek it out.

Movie – Marriage Story

Amy Smith: Despite being a film that released on Netflix, Marriage Story is a film I hunted out at cinemas to watch on the big screen. I am certainly glad I did that, because I felt all of the emotion that Baumbach placed carefully here. There is a surprising amount of humour and musical moments placed in here, but that just added a sense of reality to this story which I appreciated.

I loved the numerous angles this film took on marriage and divorce, such as the focus on the child in a relationship and the legal aspects of a divorce. It grounded the film into a real situation and yet still contained so much emotion and drama that you still became invested in the characters and their lives.

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Movie – Booksmart

Jenni Holtz: Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut Booksmart is an incredibly fun take on the classic end-of-high-school-hoorah movie. The best friend duo of Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) decide to let loose on their last night of high school. They spent the past four years dedicated to school, swearing off parties for the sake of grades. So they plan to make up for it by going out — pepper spray in hand — to see what they’ve been missing.

Like most comedies, it gets bittersweet toward the end, culminating in a fight between Molly and Amy. The way it works out, though, feels genuine and satisfying. Booksmart is a party movie for people who are tired of party movies: it’s got all the silly antics, pool scenes, and exciting firsts of classic party flicks like Animal House and Superbad without the overt sexism. People can watch Booksmart and truly walk away feeling good.

Movie – Joker

Amy Smith: I had a feeling that I would like Joker just from the advertising campaign for being a completely different comic book film from what we were used to seeing in this day and age. I absolutely fell in love with Joker watching it for the first time, and I managed to appreciate it even more in a second watch.

The editing and cinematography are incredibly smart. Presenting not only a beautifully haunting story of a man being broken down and turning into a monster, but also telling it from his perspective which is unreliable and leaving the audience to decide what is true and what isn’t.

Movie – Ford v Ferrari

Justin C: Ford v Ferrari was based on the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race, where Ford built a race car to try beat Ferrari. This might sound boring to people who are not car racing fanatics, but no knowledge on car racing is needed to watch the movie as it was very enjoyable, action packed and exciting.

Marco Beltrami’s score was amazing as it really makes you feel like you are at the race ground. Phedon Papamichael’s cinematography captured the racing sequences brilliantly, in a way that makes you anxiously involved with what is happening.

The movie also had extraordinary performances from Christian Bale and Matt Damon, who had great chemistry. Bale is always a chameleon and gives a lot of dedication to every role he plays, this time reported to have lost 70 pounds from his previous role as Dick Cheney in Vice, to play grumpy and lean Ken Miles. Nice to hear Bale with his native British accent in a movie. Ford v Ferrari is a crowd pleaser for all moviegoers. Watch it if you still had not and it’s best seen in the multiplex for all the sound effects and cinematography which make the experience even better.

Movie – Us

Jenni Holtz: Jordan Peele’s sophomore feature Us is an instant classic. Peele showed the world with Get Out that he knows how to blend social commentary, classic horror, and a perfect score to make an effective horror film. Though some critics felt Us did not live up to the standard of Get Out, it is a highly original story told in an extremely entertaining way.

In Us, we follow a family of four as they meet their doppelgangers and learn the terrors of their dark intentions to change the world as we know it. The metaphor is larger than life, read by some as a class struggle, by others as a tale about failed government programs, and sometimes understood as being about both.

What the film lacks in clarity of meaning, it makes up for with incredible performances. Lupita Nyong’o shines in a dual role as Adelaide Wilson and her tethered, Red. Nyong’o crafts two distinct characters who share scenes so bone-chilling, you forget she’s playing both roles.

Movie – Her Smell

Jenni Holtz: Elisabeth Moss shines in the grungy, glitter-coated Her Smell. It’s not for everyone, but if Her Smell is for you, it’s really for you. The film is difficult to watch at times, as the washed-up punk rockstar Becky Something (Moss) goes through the high-highs and the low-lows of drug and alcohol addiction, all under the close-watching eye of the paparazzi and her fans.

The film alternates between two high intensity moods: the electrifying live performances of the band Something She and the painful backstage life of Becky filled with the pitfalls of living with addiction. Her Smell checks in with Becky at a few points in her life, highlighting only the highest and lowest points, making their differences all too noticeable. The gritty and glamorous movie is viscerally effective and emotionally resonant character study for anyone who has personal connections to alcohol or drug addiction.

Movie – The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Jeremy Robinson: The Last Black Man in San Francisco is such a special movie, which was sadly underseen this year even though it’s one of the most powerful films that came out in 2019. Under the guidance of director Joe Talbot (In his film debut), the film is a haunting, ode to the city of San Francisco told from the point of view of two black men who are on the outside looking in. The film touches on themes such as displacement and class systems told through a beautiful lens with touching performances.

One of the main set pieces of the film comes from probably the best musical moment in any film is the moody, and soulful of San Francisco (Be Sure to wear Flowers in your hair) as performed by Emile Mosseri. Mosseri’s voice adds to the film’s power which fully encapsulates the love and spirit of the city. In the film he plays a man singing on the street, and his presence evokes the idea of the lost people forgotten or marginalized in the city which includes the film’s main characters. It’s a power moment where you are able to bask in the rich beauty and melancholy of the film, and it haunts you afterwards as the credits role by.

Movie – Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Jenni Holtz: Céline Sciamma’s historical drama tells the story of two women’s growing forbidden love. Marianne (Noémie Merlant) and Héloise (Adèle Haenel) are brought together by circumstance; Marianne is hired to paint Héloise’s portrait without her noticing. Their relationship is built on understanding, passion, and the painful reality that they can not stay together.

The backdrop the French shoreline provides a gorgeous landscape for their love. Every single element of Portrait of a Lady on Fire — from the costumes to the impeccable acting — is executed with care, making every shot a crucial piece of the story. Though their love is central to the plot, Marianne and Héloise are fully fleshed-out characters; each with rich backstory and motivation for their actions. By the end of the 2-hour film, the audience leaves feeling the same things they feel: love, heartbreak, and, above all, longing.

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