Welcome to 1760’s France where everyone is beautiful and sad. This film is absolutely gorgeous, every shot is crafted with such care and vision, the film’s visual style mirrors the Rococo style that the painter uses in the film itself. Compound this with the stunning actresses that walk through these scenes as prisoners, it’s truly some of the best visual storytelling I’ve seen.
The story is fairly simple in concept, a painter Marianne is hired to secretly create a portrait of Héloïse a young woman whose mother has arranged her marriage to a man she’s never met. As the film progresses the two grow closer to one another as they find commonality and comfort in each other’s company. This is accomplished both through a wonderful script that knows when to interject with dialogue and when to simply let the scene speak for itself. The dialogue itself is excellent and drives at the heart of these women’s painful circumstances under the thumb of a patriarchal system. The final scene is something I’ll never forget, a beautifully tragic moment that is so exquisitely executed.
This film would never come close to the heights it reaches for without incredible performances from Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel as Mariance and Héloïse respectively, they embody every facet of their roles from the most subtle facial expressions to the raw physicality of the love scenes.
The only thing I could see hampering enjoyment here is the total commitment to subtlety and restraint, this is a very quiet film with very slow, measured progression. For some, this may hinder the ability to connect with the characters as they’re less overtly expressive than you might expect from a drama like this. For me though, it was the perfect balance between the desired freedom and the reality of their captivity within the system.
I personally loved everything about this film from the drop-dead gorgeous visuals, to the acting, to the meditations on enduring power of love and the crushing weight of a system that has no regard for the personal freedom of women. It’s a deeply moving and passionate story told with a deft hand, eye, and quill. See it.
10/10 “Do all lovers feel they’re inventing something?”