Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Céline Sciamma
Directed by:
2019


Even in possibly the greatest year for cinema ever, this movie stands out as one of the best from 2019. Let's get this out of the way: this movie looks incredible. Every shot and scene looks like it could be a painting, the framing of the characters, the lighting, the environments, the colors, everything is practically perfect. This movie is beautiful in every sense of the word, and this pairs well with the excellent soundtrack. There actually isn't much music in this movie, but this is actually a choice by the creators, and makes the times in which there is music all the more sweet. This (obviously) isn't a movie made for my demographic, but I still enjoyed the romantic and dramatic aspects of this film. The themes and tropes explored are really good and tie together very well. Even the scenes that earned this movie its R rating fit well into the narrative, and the characters interacted with one another in meaningful ways in these scenes as well. It's a very sad film, but a joy to watch.
