Its inner world is unleashed when Marianne and HГ©loГЇse read the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, the doomed love of the Greek heroes forming the backbone of the deep, poetic longing the two lovers share. Sciamma finds the passion in stolen glances, verbal tete-a-tete between painter and muse, a cautious exploration of feelings left unsaid. There is only music in two key scenes, resulting in a kind of hushed silence that hangs over the film, broken only by tentative conversations shared between the two protagonists. There is a sense of prim propriety in every frame - the emotion restrained as society would have dictated at the time. As they defy both family and society, they must also face a ticking clock as HГ©loГЇse prepares to leave the island to be united with her new husband and begin her new life. But soon Marianne finds herself with much more than a companion drawn to enigmatic and melancholy HГ©loГЇse, trapped in a societal system in which she does not want to participate, the artist slowly falls in love with her subject. Marianne is then tasked with painting HГ©loГЇse in secret, posing as a companion hired to keep her company and nothing more. But HГ©loГЇse has other ideas, already having refused to sit for one artist in protest of her arranged marriage. The painter, Marianne, has been hired by HГ©loГЇse's mother to paint a portrait of HГ©loГЇse to send to her betrothed for approval. Set in the 18th century, вЂњPortrait of a Lady on FireвЂќ chronicles the lives of two women, one a painter (NoГ©mie Merlant), the other a wealthy debutante (AdГЁle Haenel) engaged to be married to a man she has never met.

But slowly, almost imperceptibly, director CГ©line Sciamma peels back the layers to reveal something deeply passionate, even fiery, beneath its mannered veneer.

The surface of CГ©line Sciamma's captivating period romance, вЂњPortrait of a Lady on Fire,вЂќ is somewhat deceptive.ДЄt first, it appears to be a stiff and staid costume drama, a film of stiff upper lips and even stiffer fabrics.

If you love something set it on fire