Portrait of a Lady on Fire

France, late 18th century. Marianne is a painter who takes on a commission she isn't thrilled about: to paint Héloïse, a young woman who has just left a convent. The painting is a marriage portrait, but Héloïse wants nothing to do with her future as a married woman and refuses to pose. Marianne can't paint her the usual way, so she'll have to do it in secret. To do so, she enters the house pretending to be a lady's companion, with the plan of observing Héloïse during the day and painting her in secret at night. Directed by Céline Sciamma and starring Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel, the film opens with this deception, in which every glance from the painter must go unnoticed.