Rotten Tomatoes, the popular online review site, has compiled the “300 Best Movies of All Time” that they call critic certified and audience-approved. The list includes classics like Casablanca, Rear Window, and 12 Angry Men. There are also more recent films like Top Gun: Maverick and The Wild Robot.
One of the films that made the list, which is considered a cinematic masterpiece and won several awards at Cannes Film Festival, is Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Known as Portrait de la jeune fille en feu in French, this 2019 film follows the story of an aristocrat and a painter commissioned to paint her portrait who end up having an affair. The film was directed by Céline Sciamma and stars Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel.
The film, which currently has a 97% critic score and 92% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, was nominated for Independent Spirit Awards, Critics’ Choice Awards, and Golden Globe Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
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One reviewer called it, “A gorgeous period piece. This film lacks nothing in direction, acting, and camera work. I was charmed by the characters, the stern landscapes, and the lighting in this movie. It’s a must-see.”
Another raved, “Claire Mathon’s stunning cinematography is achingly beautiful to gaze upon. Each frame is worthy of being hung in an art gallery, and each shot conveys so much meaning.”
This was Sciamma’s first period drama and first adult romance. When speaking with BFI, she said, “I directed three coming-of-age stories, and now I’m a 40-year-old woman. I felt it was time not to tell the story of self-discovery but of grown women. I wanted to craft a love story and tell the story of women artists. I wanted it to be a mix of a creative story and a romance.”
She also spoke about the importance of fire throughout the film. “There’s a flame—whether it’s physically there or you hear it—in almost every frame, except when they’re outside during the day,” she said. “I thought it was so rich because it’s the fire between the two women. It’s the fire within them. It’s anger and it’s destruction.”
Portrait of a Lady on Fire came in 129 on the list of “300 Best Movies of All Time,” a few spots above Good Will Hunting and The Silence of the Lambs.