Don't Faint, But "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" Is Coming to Stan This August

Fan yourself down.

If you had to guess which cinematic release of the past year became fodder for the most memes, you might have picked Joker, what with its social media-ready staircase and "death bells".

But there is another!

Unexpectedly, the sublime, slowburn French romance Portrait of a Lady on Fire became the internet’s favourite film instead, proving to be a ripe, easily pluckable source for extremely online content (especially for the world we live in now).

social distancing pic.twitter.com/XkJtl4EdKt

— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) March 16, 2020

But unlike with Joker, the reason it's referenced regularly on Twitter is because it's an instantly beloved queer masterpiece (and not because people enjoy making fun of it).

at work, just thinking about portrait of a lady on fire pic.twitter.com/3oxkUR7s7u

— bottled red (@kurthobain) July 15, 2020

deleted scene from portrait of a lady on fire pic.twitter.com/vN5kN1OoOR

— jessica (@shardofsunlight) June 24, 2020

If you didn’t get a chance to see it in cinemas (back when, you know, films actually arrived in cinemas) due to its limited release, we have good news: Portrait of a Lady on Fire will be available to stream on Stan from 22 August. It's the only place in Australia you'll be able to stream it.

The film, directed by Céline Sciamma, stars Adèle Haenel as Héloïse, an aloof and purse-lipped 19th century Frenchwoman who requires a portrait to be painted of her, so it can be shared with a nobleman who might take her hand in marriage. She arrives at a stormy, isolated island to meet her painter, Marianne (Noémie Merlant), with whom she slowly develops a friendship, and then something more.

This writer saw the film in 2019 and found it extremely powerful, with one of the best endings of the year. It also won Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes. (It wasn’t nominated at the Oscars in the equivalent category, but only because each nation can only submit one film, and France picked Les Misérables instead.) It has also already been selected for the Criterion Collection, alongside another little 2019 feature called Parasite (maybe you've heard of it). And if all of that doesn’t convince you that this is worth your time, take it from your bebe Andy Samberg.

Andy Samberg's reaction to Portrait of a Lady on Fire may be the best review of the film yet https://t.co/VnWfX1G6nR pic.twitter.com/tYgnpGhIP4

— Mary Anne Franks (@ma_franks) July 19, 2020

Portrait of a Lady on Fire will be available to stream from Stan on 22 August 2020, where it is a streaming exclusive. It’s also available to rent or buy on YouTube, iTunes, Google Play and Microsoft Store.

Header Image: Madman Entertainment