Sciamma knew that decision would force her to find the musicality in the rhythm of the scenes and movements of the actors. Prior to this scene, there is no music in the film. We wanted to convoke the imagery around witches.” It’s cold, so there’s a fire, and they might do drugs, you know, they fly. “In the meantime saying, ‘Well, you know, it’s just women gathering, living their friendship, exchanging knowledge, wise women, doctors, whatever, and, you know, drinking. “It was a way to also convoke the imagery witches,” said Sciamma.

In addition to mirroring the rising of emotions that propel the transition, Sciamma also wanted the chanting and gathering around the fire to reference the 18th-century concept of witchcraft. The transition from putting out the fire on Héloïse’s dress is a fluid match cut to the lovers leading each other to their hidden spot on the beach where they will finally kiss. Sciamma described the scene as the film’s clear turning point. The scene that follows literally sets Marianne and Héloïse’s love aflame against an even larger scene of sorority. In the scene prior, we watch the three women relax together as they prepare a meal, drink wine, and debate Ovid’s version of the “Orpheus and Eurydice” myth. The barriers between artist, maiden, and their servant (Luàna Bajrami) break down. “It’s an adaptation of a sentence by Nietzsche, who says basically, ‘The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly.'”Īs important as the love that develops between the two women is the backdrop that enables it: Héloïse’s mother (Valeria Golino), who is trying to marry off her daughter with the aid of Marianne’s portrait, has left. They’re saying, ‘fugere non possum,’ which means ‘they come fly,'” said Sciamma. In an effort to get a song that had the beats per minute, polyphonic, and polyrhythmic qualities she needed, Sciamma decided to write the lyrics herself. Jordan Peele's Toolkit Interview: Making 'Nope' a Masterpiece of Soundīest True Crime Shows on Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO Maxīest Movies Never Made: 35 Lost Projects from Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, and More 'Light & Magic': Lawrence Kasdan Reunites with George Lucas to Tell the Story of ILM - Toolkit I wanted just the voice and the clapping of women.” It was all very instrumental, and I wanted no instruments. “But I wanted it to be kind of a trance, I wanted the BPMs to be very high, and didn’t find something. “I listened to a lot of old melodies from the time some of them we are still singing to our kids to bed,” said Sciamma. The song grows, clapping starts, and they begin to repeat a lyric. When she was a guest on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, director Céline Sciamma talked about how she looked for an 18th century song to adapt, but wasn’t able to find one that fit her needs. As the two soon-to-be-lovers exchange glances across the bonfire, a low, slow chant starts to rise as the rest of the women gather to sing.

The moment comes just a little past the halfway mark of the two-hour “ Portrait of a Lady on Fire.” Marianne (Noémie Merlant) and Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) have yet to acknowledge their growing desire when they are brought to an evening gathering of the women who live on the isolated island in Brittany.

Portrait of a lady on fire