Portrait of a Lady on Fire

"In its directness of feeling, the film risks slipping into a modern kind of sentimentality. "Do all lovers feel like they’re inventing something?" Heloise asks, one of the more heavy-handed lines. But the film, like its characters, mingles openness and reserve; there are pockets of mystery all the way through."

"But the languor with which the story unfolds is the most courageous move, and yet the film remains utterly captivating. The ultimate displays of passion may feel a little bloodless, but it’s hard not to be moved by the ending to this understated wonder."

"Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a love story, a treatise and an elegant manifesto. As a film – and as a soundtrack – it is a thing of beauty. And, as a piece of writing and performance, you won't see, or hear, much better this year."

"In [writer-director Céline] Sciamma's gifted hands, the film escapes cliché and becomes something glorious - a study of forbidden love that grandly highlights how much has been lost under the crush of hetero patriarchy."

"The fire burns slowly, but there's no lack of heat in Celine Sciamma's period love story."

"One can hardly ignore the fact, as true then as it is now, that the world looks different when seen through a woman’s eyes."

"It’s deeply romantic and also deeply thoughtful – an electric combination."

"Sciamma’s splendid, multi-layered conceit manages to carry equal weight as a love story and a manifesto of sorts for feminine art."

"A superbly elegant, enigmatic drama ... I was on the edge of my seat."

"Razor-sharp and shatteringly romantic..."

"An exquisitely executed love story that's both formally adventurous and emotionally devastating..."