Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Refund Policy: Please be aware all tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable to another event. If you are unable to make an event, tickets can be passed to someone else but the original booker's details will remain in our system.

This is a French language film with English subtitles

Girlhood director Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire is an exquisite queer romance set in 18th century France. 

Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is commissioned to paint a portrait of a young noblewoman, Lady Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) to be used to elicit marriage proposals. Knowing Héloïse doesn’t want to get married, Marianne disguises herself as a lady’s maid in order to gain her subject’s trust – only to find herself falling in love with her. 

Exploring the power of the female gaze, Portrait shows two women grappling with their desires within a society that prohibits both their love and control of their own lives. Erotic and cerebral, bold and restrained, it’s a gorgeous, slow burn romance.

This title is part of the public programming for Gathered Around the Sun, an exhibition curated by Towner’s Collections & Acquisitions Committee. Considering both the artworks within the exhibition, as well as the experience of being on the committee, this series of films explores themes of community, adolescence and growing up, landscapes, celestial bodies, domesticity, womanhood, motherhood, and more.

“Portrait of a Lady on Fire was chosen for its depiction of womanhood and women friendships, particularly in the ways they rebel against the traditions of domesticity and expectations. With themes of warmth, sea, friendship, defiance, and artistry, all set between the home and its local landscapes, this title felt very encompassing of Gathered Around the Sun.” – Maddie Lock, member of the Collections & Acquisitions Committee.

Other screenings in the public programme for Gathered Around the Sun include:

The Florida Project
Saturday 7 February | 11.00am
Pay What You Can from £3

The Outrun
Sunday 15 February | 11.30am
Pay What You Can from £3

Our Land
Saturday 7 March | 2.00pm
£10 (£7)