Portrait of a Lady on Fire
as part of THE WINTER GAZE ARTHOUSE FILM SERIES

(2019, Céline Sciamma, France, 120 min)

Céline Sciamma’s luminous period drama unfolds on a remote Breton island, where painter Marianne is commissioned to secretly capture the likeness of Héloïse. What begins as an observational task becomes a profound meditation on love, art, and the act of looking. Through carefully orchestrated glances, gestures, and the slow intimacy of the painting process, every frame becomes a study in the ethics and vulnerability of the gaze — to look, to be looked at, and to remember.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a visual and emotional masterclass, revealing how cinema can hold desire, secrecy, and the permanence of fleeting moments. Sciamma crafts a world where attention becomes connection, and where the gaze itself becomes a form of resistance, tenderness, and truth.

Tickets $20 (incl beverage & snack)

Bruce Isaacs is Associate Professor and Chair of Film Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia. He is the author of three books on film history and aesthetics and is the co-creator and co-host of the popular podcast, Film Versus Film. He is a specialist in American cinema and Hollywood, with a special focus on the relationship between mainstream studio cinema and independent film traditions.

About This Series

Winter Gaze is an arthouse film program exploring how filmmakers challenge perception, time, and memory through experimental and narrative forms. Hosted by Assoc. Prof. Bruce Isaacs, the series invites audiences to reflect on the ethics, intensity, and intimacy of cinematic observation.

This screening forms part of The Weight of the Gaze, a research‑led project examining how looking shapes power, perception, and the visibility of women’s labour. Through the Winter Gaze film series and the development of the performance work Holding the Line, the project investigates the ethics of attention and the unseen emotional labour carried within systems responding to gendered violence.

“We are not a home for creativity. We are a home for art that won’t stay quiet.”