A young painter named Marianne travels to a mansion. Here she meets her employer, the model’s mother. The mother is trying to marry off the model, her daughter Heloise that is, to some bourgeoisie/aristocrat in Italy. And they want a picture of the bride. The problem is, the daughter is not very enthusiastic about it and she’s making things not too easy for anyone. She won’t pose for the painting, for one. Another painter tried before and failed. So if the newcomer wants to paint Heloise, she cannot tell her the real intention. So, Marianne takes the disguise of a temporary company for Heloise.

Marianne hangs out with Heloise in the mansion, on the beach most of the day and while she’s alone, she tries to paint her from her memory. Being with her all the time creates a friendship between them. Something Heloise didn’t have in her life as a member of the upper class who also has been in a convent. Anyway, the painting was finally finished and it turned out okay! While Heloise felt cheated knowing she was her painter all along, she still wanted to see it.

This is where it gets interesting. Heloise accuses Marianne for the art not having any life in it, her essence is absent. With injured pride, Marianne then destroys the painting and begins anew — this time around, much to her mother’s surprise, Heloise willingly poses.

Now that the curtain is up, no longer Marianne is hiding herself behind a facade and they spent most of the time together, their friendship starts to run deeper. So much so, they realize at one point, it’s much more than a friendship. They are, in fact, in love. But the background is 1770 and even in paris, they didn’t encourage women to practice art, in case they surpass men, let alone having homosexual relationship. I will not go further into the story.

No, I haven’t spoiled anything for you. This is an introduction, a long one granted but introduction nonetheless. But you shouldn’t see this film for the ‘thrill’ anyway.

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We humans see patterns in stories and fish out familiar tropes and cliches all too well. Films are no exception. But you know what? We can only do that in extraordinary cases. Like heist films, crime drama, thriller films. And what’s even interesting is that if we find familiar plot lines, we begin to take it not too seriously. We crave originality in our fanciful fiction.

But what about romance? Romance is more or less the same, right? You like a girl or a boy and you make a relationship with them, and that’s it. Yet, we, this time humanity in a collective manner, have written romantic stories countless times in countless forms hitherto. And each one of them feels different to us. Each one of them influences us in a different way. Why exactly?
My theory is that — since it is something we experience everyday in our personal lives and we are very much aware of the little details and nuances they entail in an excruciating manner that we immediately notice someone else’s romantic encounters to be unique and distinct from ours. These variations do not make us feel like we are seeing the very same concept of love, affection over and over again, we fail to see the cliché and lastly, these stories can affect us emotionally. Do you feel attachment to a heist gone bad? No. But romantic tension among the robbers? Hell yes!

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Being a straight man does not halter me in any way to feel the emotion and longing these two women have for each other. Their affectionate conversations, their lovemaking, their recollections of when they first wanted to kiss each other, their most intimate thoughts about one another, their childlike exaltation, their dreams, their frustrations — I could take it all and bury them in my own heart.

I usually care much about the frames and composition. But it isn’t always the case, especially when I’m entirely submerged in the story. A powerful cinema that can affect me emotionally — I can cut it some slack. Like Bresson said, the audience must feel a cinema first.
The frames are actually pretty soothing in the eye to be honest but they are not overly technical as I like them to be.
I consider this film to be one of my top films of 2019 and that year was a very good one.