Con’s Score: 4.5 Flames
This is the second film we’ve seen this year about the art of painting. It’s easy to fall into the craft and dazzle us with the artist’s tricks. It’s much harder to show us how to capture its essence. Never Look Away was wrapped inside a political drama. This period piece entwines itself delicately in an illicit lesbian love affair.
In 1770 France, Marianne (Noémie Merlant) has been commissioned to do a portrait of Héloïse (Adèle Haene), with only one problem: she mustn’t know she’s being painted. Heoïse is being married off without meeting her Milanese suitor, which caused her sister to suicide, so you can understand her reticence and lack of conversation.
Marianne’s first attempt looked good to me, but doesn’t please the subject, who shreds it verbally. “I didn’t know you were an art critic.” “I didn’t know you were a painter,” says Heloise. Touché! It’s this sharp dialogue that won this script Best Screenplay at Cannes. (It almost won the Palme Dior.)
Her mother (Valeria Golino) agrees to give Marianne a second chance while she leaves the island. Almost imperceptibly, a romance grows. You have to admire the way it avoids shortcuts, or hints, before the romance explodes, but this has all the right ingredients. This is a slow burner that sizzles when it’s time to.
Writer-Director Céline Sciamma has put together an excellent film. She says she wanted to make a film about people being equal, but this has so many more layers than that. It’s about enduring love, the rigid traditions of the time, art and so much more.
The acting is superb, and Merlant shines. She is warm and likeable and passionate without being saccharine. Haenel is a little too stilted at first but plays her transition well, and her final scene won me over. The chemistry – both the lack of it, then the frisson – is believable and real, right down to the sticky saliva. Even (Luàna Bajrami ) as Sophie, the servant, is endearing. Sciamma has found the right balance and drawn out great performances.
Sciamma’s cinematography is stunning. The lighting, the framing… it’s spot on. When you make a film with a painter in it, you set the bar high and you have to make something as beautiful. She has created great art.
The final two scenes are just brilliant. Sciamma could have gone with one, but why not indulge us a little more. Something this good should be enjoyed.
Con Nats , On The Screen
