The Art of Female Gaze and Emotional Expression: A Study of Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Abstract

This paper explores the use of the female gaze, emotional expression, and visual composition in Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire to challenge traditional gender power dynamics. By subverting the male gaze, the film allows its female characters, Marianne and Héloïse, to reclaim their agency and subjectivity through the mutual act of looking. The film’s deliberate framing and use of color—particularly the contrast between Héloïse’s blue and Marianne’s red—serve as visual metaphors for the characters’ emotional states and the tension between freedom and societal constraints. Additionally, silence is employed as a powerful narrative device, heightening the intensity of their relationship through nonverbal communication. This analysis demonstrates how Portrait of a Lady on Fire reshapes gender relations by centering women’s experiences, desires, and identities, offering a profound meditation on love, art, and autonomy.