I’m afraid to see Portrait of a Lady on Fire again. I walked away unscathed the first time I saw French writer-director Céline Sciamma’s visually stunning, universally acclaimed 2019 tale of 18th-century queer romance. But I know if I take it for a second spin, I’ll most likely end up a blubbering pile on the floor. Sciamma goes to a distant island to follow the quietly sensuous (and sensual, of course) love affair that builds between a frustrated aristocrat (Adele Haenel, Sciamma’s real-life ex) who’s about to be wed off to a nobleman, and her walking companion (Noémie Merlant), actually a painter secretly hired to do her wedding portrait. Although men are mostly absent from this story, the patriarchal norms they’ve created are always present, hovering heavily. It reminds you that this beautiful, intoxicating, hella sapphic union probably won’t last long. This glorious heartbreaker of a movie will screen at the Belcourt on Dec. 10, a staff pick selected by musician and sometime Scene contributor Quinn Hills. Visit belcourt.org for showtimes.
8 p.m. at the Belcourt
2102 Belcourt Ave.
