An incredibly well made French film.
The story of a woman being promised to marry one person but falling in love with another is older than the movies themselves. However this story has rarely if ever been told as well as it is in this movie. Much of this is due to how great our main characters are and how perfectly their relationship is set up. This is a movie that feels no need to rush into the fullness of what the relationship becomes. Instead it lets this relationship grow gradually and believably. The relationship starts off as two people who not only hardly know each other but are a mystery to one another. When Marianna first tries to paint Heloise's portrait, it is a lifeless and emotionless drawing that only captures the outside of its subject, while ignoring the inside. This is because Marianna only studied how her subject visually looked, but when she gets to know who this woman really is she forms a deeper relationship than she imagined possible. Still she only learns about Heloise little by little, and the relationship grows at the same rate. Because of this we get to fall in love with Heloise along with our main character and fully understand the relationship s it unfolds. This is enhanced beautifully by the performances of Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel. These performances are incredibly powerful and subtle. So much is shown through the smallest inflections on their faces. Just watching Adèle Haenel's face in the final scene is viewing great cinematic art. This film is also full of extremely smart and thought provoking dialogue. The dialogue is pure lyrism and poetry at its finest. When they discuss their passions for music and painting, it is absolutely incredible. Céline Sciamma's (who also directed the film) script is fantastic. This is also an extremely visually beautiful movie with its lovely location shooting and Claire Mathon's cinematography is perfect.
This is a must watch film and an incredible piece of cinematic art.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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