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Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Drama · Romance · 2019

On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.

Movie details

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

“Don't regret. Remember.”

2019 Drama · Romance 2h 1m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

8.0 / 10

126.9K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

98 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

95 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

8.1 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Portrait of a Lady on Fire?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Interiors

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Maudie

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Somewhere in Time

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Purple Hearts

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Romance · 2022

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My First Time

My First Time

Drama · 2012

Zachary is 20 years old. Dark and independent, he collects amorous conquests and school failure. Sarah is 18 years old. First class, fragile, she fills her emotional gaps with perfect control of his life. Nothing should close and yet, the year of the tank, for six months, they will live a love against which nothing can be, the true, the big one that marks a life forever.

The Happy Prince

The Happy Prince

Drama · 2018

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Leave Her to Heaven

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Mr. Turner

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History · 2014

Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful housekeeper bears an unrequited love for him.

At Eternity's Gate

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Famed but tormented artist Vincent van Gogh spends his final years in Arles, France, painting masterworks of the natural world that surrounds him.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Céline Sciamma

Written by

Céline Sciamma

Noémie Merlant

Noémie Merlant

Marianne

Adèle Haenel

Adèle Haenel

Héloïse

Luàna Bajrami

Luàna Bajrami

Sophie

Valeria Golino

Valeria Golino

La Comtesse

Christel Baras

Christel Baras

La faiseuse d'ange

Armande Boulanger

Armande Boulanger

L'élève atelier

Guy Delamarche

Guy Delamarche

L'homme salon

Court is in session

Put Portrait of a Lady on Fire on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.