A painter named Marianne is sent to rural Brittany in 1770 to make a portrait of Héloïse, a young woman about to be married to a Milanese gentleman. But Héloïse does not want to be painted, or ...

American audiences may stay away from “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” because it’s so French: slow-paced, quiet, subtle, restrained, thoughtful (even intellectual), and all about women relating ...