Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a cinematic masterpiece following a forbidden love between two women. It deconstructs the romantic tropes and archetypes we see in male-gaze cinema, but with the absence of patriarchal society and male figures. Instead, we get a romance that reminds us of what it’s like to be looked at, loved, cherished, and inevitably turned into a memory from long ago. This film, written and directed by Céline Sciamma, has elements that allude to the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, via symbolic gestures, a painting, and even incorporating the myth itself in a scene.
Released in 2019, this French historical romantic drama set in 18th century Brittany, follows Marianne, a painter commissioned to paint the portrait of Héloïse who is betrothed to a nobleman from Milan, whom she has never met. Héloïse has refused to be painted, since she is uninterested in marrying this man and wants her freedom back. That is why Marianne is hired, to pretend to be her companion while painting her in secret from memory. During her time there, the two created an unescapable bond that later turned into a love that they will eternally treasure, but will never find again.
As stated, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is explicitly told during the film in a scene where Héloïse, Marianne, and Sophie (the maid) gather to read it. After finishing the story, all three women share different reactions and interpretations behind the famous moment where Orpheus turns around. Sophie, angered, states that the man was being an idiot by turning around and sealing his lover’s fate, keeping her in Hades’ underworld. Héloïse is filled with anguish, but concludes that his was the decision of a lover, keeping her only in memory. Marianne believes that Orpheus took the route of the poet, looking at Eurydice one last time to never forget her face. We could also infer that the poet’s route also gives Eurydice agency, that maybe she wanted Orpheus to look back at her, accepting her fate.
This ties to the moment Marianne and Héloïse share one last look. Héloïse is wearing her wedding dress, Marianne walks in on her and runs away. The bride follows behind, begging her to look back, and, as Orpheus once did, Marianne does. The door closes and she is now stuck in her living hell, forever. Throughout the film, we can see how this inevitable goodbye haunts the painter; she sees the bride walking through the dark halls that submerge her, just as the underworld did to Eurydice.
Reaching the ending we see that Marianne is at an art gallery exhibition showcasing her painting, a rendition of the myth right as he turns around. Eurydice wears a white dress, referencing Héloïse’s wedding dress, and Orpheus is covered in a blue tunic, referencing the blue dress Marianne is wearing to the showing. The memory of their past romance once again haunting her, living on in her art. In the end, they see each other once again at an orchestral concert. Or rather, Marianne sees Héloïse. Instead of going towards her, she chooses the poet’s route, letting that day she turned around be their last memory together: “I saw her again one last time, but she didn’t see me.”