Laura returns to help us "turn around" and wave goodbye to 2020 by unpacking what the Orpheus and Eurydice myth means and all the ways it's woven into Portrait of a Lady on Fire . Follow Laura on Twitter! https://twitter.com/labhistorical Check out her podcast! https://anchor.fm/labhistorytime
A teeny episode with an extra Portrait synopsis rewrite, more Portrait Nation fan names, and queer holiday rom-com ideas. See you in 2021!
Joyeux Noël, y'all! For our last episode of the year, we're bringing back our first guest . . . Aimée! She takes us behind the scenes of the project to translate the Plain Archive script into English, and we discuss some of the major differences between the script and the final film. Stuff from the show: The unofficial English translation of the Portrait of a Lady on Fire script: https://mlleclaudine.tumblr.com/post/634613427269173248/english-translation-of-c%C3%A9line-sciammas-screenplay Aimée ...
We confetti'd a bunch of questions at you last week, and you were generous enough to confetti us back with answers! So now we're here to gather all that answer confetti, sort it into categories, convert it into an audio file, and party horn it into your ears! 🤷🏽♀️ We'll be sharing your responses to Valerie Complex's request for a rewrite of Portrait of a Lady on Fire's logline, your suggestions for what we Portrait Nation folks should call ourselves, and then we wrap things up with your dream...
Valerie's back to finish answering your (well, Gina's) questions! We also unpack some racist and creepy fandom behavior and accidentally uncover a suspiciously consistent trend in how lesbian films are marketed! Quite the journey, tbh. Stuff from the show: Angelica Jade Bastién's review of Antebellum : https://www.vulture.com/2020/09/antebellum-movie-review-i-am-tired-of-films-like-this.html Valerie's review of The Great Wall : https://blackgirlnerds.com/bgn-movie-review-great-wall/ Film Fag's "...
Make yourself some hot cocoa and snuggle up with our Happiest Season watch party! Also, thanks again to everyone who was able to join us on Twitch—you made it super fun and held our hands through some tough scenes. 💖 How to sync the movie with the podcast: we'll cue you in, but if you want to double-check . . . 06:26 on the podcast should line up with 01:58 on Hulu (-01:39:55 if you're on a laptop). Want to skip ahead to the discussion? Fast forward to 01:43:26. Links from the show: Watch Happi...
This episode falls right on Noémie's birthday, so we decided to talk about how much we loved Shakira , the short film she wrote and directed. Shakira follows its title character, a young Roma girl, as she tries to make a better life for herself and her family. Watch and support Shakira (official video with English and French subtitles) Variety interview with Noémie...
Film critic and writer Valerie Complex joins us to answer some of your questions, share some of her favorite movies of the year (so far), and weigh in a bit on Ammonite . Stuff from the show: Valerie’s previous episode Follow Valerie on Letterboxd Movies: Jumbo , Cuties (Mignonnes) , Relic , Miss Juneteenth , Summerland , Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children , Coded Bias , Giving Voice , Zola (plus the tweetstorm Zola is based on), Birds of Prey , Saint Maud , La Llorona , Pariah , ...
Why did Céline set Portrait of a Lady on Fire in 1770? What was happening in the late 18th century that made this time period so meaningful? To find out, we talk to Laura, an archaeologist, historical consultant and history teacher from London. She helps us unpack how women have often been rewritten or left out of traditional retellings of historical events and urges us to seek out other real-life versions of Héloïse and Marianne and bring them into mainstream conversation. Stuff from the show: ...
For this mailbag we dig deeper into a couple of key lines: What did Héloïse regret when she said she felt regret? And what did she mean when she said now and then she'd be consoled in Milan? We talk about how Portrait and Portrait Nation have changed our vocabularies. Then we talk about the results of our Halloweenie poll: were those Héloïse ghosts just memories or were they actually following Marianne around the château in real life?? (Rude!) Finally, we discuss what Portrait merch we'd each wa...
This Halloween, join us one country over (Germany) and two centuries later (1977) as we consume and are consumed by Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria . Mercifully, we’re joined by our first returning guest and resident spirit guide, Heather Petrocelli, who talks about Suspiria's similarities to Portrait and provides lovingly gathered insights into this beautiful and chilling film while Audrey and Laurel whimper unhelpfully. Stuff from the show: Heather's previous episode on Portrait's gothic themes Hea...
We close out our listener responses series with your questions for Céline as well as all the ways Portrait of a Lady on Fire has changed your (and our!) lives. We also awkwardly piece together how the two of us met through our shared obsession with this film. .
In the second to last part of our listener responses series we try our best to verbally convey the emojis you sent us about how Portrait made you feel 🤷🏽♀️🙇🏻♀️, we discuss the new connections you've made (and would like to make), how other films and TV shows impacted your life, what's up with the Portrait and Call Me By Your Name comparisons, and how the two of us feel about pineapple on pizzas.
Welcome to Part 3 of our listener responses series! Maybe someday we'll remember not to set ourselves up to relive all of everyone's most emotionally impactful scenes in a single episode, but today is not that day! 😂😭 We're a mess by the end of it, but what is Portrait Nation if not an international collective for FEELING FEELINGS TOGETHER?? Enjoy! 😀💀 Afterward (or before!) soothe yourself with this blissful video of morning affirmations from Marianne courtesy of @portraitoalof!...
In Part 2 of this series, we talk about some of the other media that's impacted you similarly to Portrait : classic films like Mädchen in Uniform and new masterpieces like Moonlight , shows like Gentleman Jack and books like A Little Life. So much variation! No wonder we all write such interesting Lex ads! Stuff we mentioned: Céline Sciamma's new screenwriting project, Les Olympiades...
So many of you have messaged us about your experiences surrounding Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and it made us want to hear ALL of your Portrait stories. We asked you a bunch of questions on Instagram, and you came through with hundreds of responses. Some of you even recorded audio responses! 😭 In Part 1 of this series we'll share how many of you saw Portrait in a theater, what country or city you saw it in, and what your first viewing experiences were like. Also, shout out to Güneş Padem for su...
Let's all pile into our 18th century boat and row from the coast of Brittany to the coast of San Junipero for a different seaside lesbian love story. Whimper alongside us as we surrender our hearts to the combination of Mackenzie Davis's Resting Yearn Face and Gugu Mbatha-Raw's searing-in-literally-any-decade energy because OOOH HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH. ✨🌴💕 Watch "San Junipero" Season 3, Episode 4 of Black Mirror on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/70264888...
Doctors Deepa and Jen from the Docs Watch podcast help us understand the various aspects of 18th century abortion portrayed by Portrait of a Lady on Fire. We'll answer questions like: what's running and hanging from the ceiling supposed to accomplish? What was in that tea? What was that stuff the midwife pulled a twig out of, and where did the rest of it end up?? Get ready to find out, be grateful for modern medicine, and renew your commitment to vote in favor of reproductive rights (or we'll al...
Thanks, as always, to everyone who asks us anything. We cover a lot of ground this week! We talk about #PortraitWatchParty, Ammonite, how to wean yourself off Portrait (if you want to 🤷🏽♀️ ), what might've made Noémie blush during filming, thumb detectives, and more. Links from the show: Kate Winslet Says Sex Scenes Are Not Like Eating a Sandwich - https://www.vulture.com/2020/08/kate-winslet-ammonite-sex-scenes-eating-a-sandwich.html Noémie: ". . . she gave a smile that I could really react ...
THE RESULTS ARE IN! This week we discuss the results of our poll about how much "lesbo expo" (a.k.a. our VERY COOL abbreviation for "lesbian experience") Marianne and Héloïse had before they met each other. We also read some of the responses, and wow, y'all had OPINIONS. 💕🔥 Links from the show - Free French learning marathon! https://www.fromance.tilda.ws/ - When Brooklyn Was Queer (Note: Laurel would like to thank Audrey for recommending this to her) http://www.hughryan.org/when-brooklyn-was-...
This week it's all about SOPHIE! She's smart, talented, resourceful, and a great hang (get it???). It's also through Sophie that we get a broader experience of the film's world as she shows us sorority, community, domesticity, and more. So let's pour each other some wine, get out our embroidery hoops, and chill with our very best BFF. Link from the show: Céline Sciamma on Sophie - https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/2/19/21137213/portrait-of-a-lady-on-fire-celine-sciamma-interview...
In this episode, we talk to Aixa about why she decided to started the fan accounts, how it feels like Portrait gets inside you while you're also inside of it, how it's surprisingly similar to E.T. aaaaand...she graciously, patiently teaches us Portrait Spanish. (Ay, dios mío.😓 ) Links from the show Portraitofaladyonfirefans on IG: https://www.instagram.com/portraitofaladyonfirefans/ Portrait_Nation on Twitter: https://twitter.com/portrait_nation Aixa's IG: https://www.instagram.com/rockg0d/ Aix...
Honestly, we thought doing another episode of 28 things we noticed about Portrait of a Lady on Fire might be a bit of a stretch, but we were wrong! We've got lots of fun facts AND heartbreak for you this week, so join us on a FUN EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER! 😭 🎢 🥰 Links from the show: Thanks (as always) to... https://ladyonfire28.tumblr.com/ Laurent Sciamma, title designer: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4599030/ Cecilia Ngo, Noémie's stunt double: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3164996/ Visit the châ...
Finally. Finally , we answer all the questions we've received about armpit drugs, the armpit sex scene, and armpits in general. We talk at great length about axillary hair. We bravely plunge in and out of depictions of manually- and substance-induced pleasure. We even give recommendations for Armpit LARPing! (LARmPing?) So join us in this veritable pit of ecstasy! Links from the show: Flying Ointment on Wikipedia The Witches' Brew (Narcotics Documentary) The Armpit is the Second Clitoris...
Look, we all love how Portrait of a Lady on Fire broke our hearts and made them stronger, but . . . what if Héloise and Marianne found each other after the symphony? What if they got to talk to each other?? WHAT IF THEY GOT TO HANG OUT AND KISS AND STUFF AGAIN?? This week we talk to Vittoria, who has written what is arguably the best Portrait fan fiction out there. the dreadful need in the devotee picks up where the film ends and allows us to explore some beautiful possibilities. Stuff we mentio...
Come, dear souls, as we sit by the fire in our drafty, isolated French château to commune with Heather Petrocelli, the avid film researcher and horror cinephile behind Queer for Fear. We discuss the exquisite gothic themes that appear throughout Portrait of a Lady on Fire (a haunted house! beheadings! ghosts! witches??). Heather also gives us even MORE reasons to be awed by Céline Sciamma's genius, and we all take a moment to appreciate Portrait's divine spit strings. JoOoOoinN uUuUusSs. Show No...
This week we're talking to David Anderson, a good friend of Audrey's who has listened to the podcast but not watched Portrait! (?!?!?) We were SUPER CURIOUS about what bizarro version of the plot he might have embroidered into his mind, so we asked him! And then we quizzed him, game show-style, on various bits of dialogue and scene recall . . . yes, yes, from a movie he hasn't seen. So, rub in some armpit drugs, and let's go on a J O U R N E Y! Show links David's podcast Don't Be Afraid of Your ...
Portrait fans rejoice! Our favorite film has gotten the Criterion Collection treatment. The CC release includes a slew of insightful interviews with Céline Sciamma, Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Claire Mathon, and Hélène Delmaire; a handful of new subtitle tweaks (plus at least one pretty significant subtitle change); and more. We also discovered that the Blu-ray and the DVD versions are different in ways that disappoint Laurel. But, hey, everyone gets color bars?!
Welcome to another mailbag episode! This week we discuss whether or not Héloïse checked Marianne out after she came back from church (a.k.a. the sexiest time to check out ur girlfriend), how we feel about how white queer movies seem to be, whether or not Marianne had an abortion, and whether or not the countess knew about their relationship! Dang! We also talk about fun stuff that's been floating around social media lately including Valerie Complex's chat with Noémie, Plain Archive's plans to pu...
In anticipation of Criterion's official Portrait of a Lady on Fire DVD release date in a few days, we decided to watch the whole thing together for the first time. Want to hang out and watch it with us? GREAT. Make some popcorn, grab your delicately embroidered handkerchief, get comfy, and hit play!
