"You Burn Me" - Stung by Media!
Uni has a way of throwing you these little curveballs that make your chest ache in the best and worst ways. This week mine came in the form of a recommendation for Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2018) as part of reception studies in classical literature. Honestly for the first chunk, you would be forgiven for saying that "nothing happens" and that's almost true.... Forty-five minutes in, it's a language of stolen glances, barely a word exchanged at times, and yet it grips you completely. It feels like someone has taken the awkward, burning intensity of a Sapphic crush and put it on screen. It is savage. The baited breaths, the eye contact, the conversations behind the eyes, and the YEARNING..... BRUTAL! My heart went in my mouth several times, and it was agony! Seriously. Céline Sciamma is a genius at making you feel like a voyeur. The sound design is understated and gorgeous, the kind of subtlety that makes you hold your breath. The camera follows Marianne and Héloïse...