Set in late 18th century France, painter Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is commissioned by an affluent countess to paint the wedding portrait of her sheltered daughter Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) so she can be appraised by a suitor across the sea. 

Completing the portrait in secret, observing the resistant Héloïse by day and painting her by night, the two women grow closer. Their intimacy and attraction begins to blossom into a profoundly charged romance. 

Seductive, devastating and irresistibly beautiful, this period piece with a distinctly modern feminist sensibility sees Sciamma (Tomboy, Girlhood, Petite Maman) take her place as one of her generation's finest filmmakers.

Part of the Naughton Gallery’s SCREEN/PRINT series in collaboration with QFT and UsFolk. All attendees will receive a specially commissioned Portrait of a Lady on Fire poster created by Jamie Beard, a Belfast-based illustrator whose work is rooted in issues of social justice and Belfast’s luminous LGBTQ+ community.