Portrait of a Lady on Fire  ★★★

TWO women take long walks, talk and look longingly at each other.

If I wanted to be unfair, that’s mostly the extent of what’s on screen in the French romantic drama Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

But let’s not be unfair.

Yes, this is a slow burn with very traditional French mannerisms, but man is it beautiful to look at.

Director Celine Sciamma and her cinematographer Claire Mathon create scene after scene of tremendous beauty, whether wide shots of the two women strolling along a cliff face or beach or close-ups using lensing and light to seemingly create a colour palette and texture that resembles a painting come to slow life.

The film is set on an isolated island in Brittany in 1760. Freelance artist Marianne (Noemie Merlant) arrives, left on the beach and forced to lug her own heavy bag up a virtual cliff face.

We know Marianne is feisty and independent because earlier we watched her jump fully-clothed from a small rowing boat into the ocean to retrieve her crate of canvases when the men with her just sat there.

It’s not an auspicious welcome, made more difficult again when the Madame of the house informs Marianne that the subject of the portrait, her daughter Heloise (Adele Haenel), does not want to be painted.

Heloise has already destroyed one attempted portrait by a previous artist and has no intention of letting her looks be the judging factor for a male suitor, as planned by her mother.

Heloise has been told that Marianne has been employed simply to be her companion on her long, daily walks. But in her spare time Marianne must paint her portrait from each day’s memories and keep the truth from Heloise.

While the women tread warily around each other initially, there is little doubt they have similar opinions and interests. Their immediate chemistry slowly grows into a physical attraction and emotional bond, deepened by their shared past experiences.

The two central performances are authentic and nicely judged.

If you have the patience to stay with the beautiful looking but slowly paced first hour you will be rewarded with an intelligent, tender and unconventional love story.

My preferred pace for a French love story is something a little faster, perhaps Betty Blue from 1986 or 2013’s Blue is the Warmest Colour, but Portrait of a Lady on Fire has deservedly attracted many fans.