Xavier Dolan is an accomplished filmmaker and actor in his own right. He even has his latest film making its world premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. However, the filmmaker is a film fan, like the rest of us. And because of that, Dolan isn’t going to pass up the opportunity to praise a work of art when he sees it.
And in a new Instagram post by Dolan, he goes out of his way to not just congratulate filmmaker Céline Sciamma on her incredible achievement with “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” but he actually writes a short essay describing exactly how the film touched him in a very profound way.
READ MORE: Céline Sciamma’s ‘Portrait Of A Lady On Fire’ Is A Searing Love Story [Cannes Review]
“Even when I try I am unable to remember the last time I sat in a theatre and heard such delicate, such incisive and profound writing,” wrote Dolan.
He continued, “Céline Sciamma’s ‘Portrait of the Lady on Fire’ is magnificent! Adele Haenel’s performance is enrapturing, and although the film’s assiduous coldness is undeniably successful, the love declared to her through and by this story is the hidden force that made Sciamma’s film haunt me in my sleep.”
For those not familiar with Sciamma’s latest film, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” tells the story of two women who fall in love after one is commissioned to paint a portrait of the other during the 18th century. Our reviewer loved the film, as well, saying, “Sciamma, who penned the script, has a magnificent capability for elegant prose that wouldn’t feel out of place in a classic novel, the kind of dialogue that simmers long after it is spoken.”
Dolan, of course, wasn’t finished. He continued effusing his love of the film.
“I loved the film in all its apparent, immediate qualities, but what moved me to my core is the secret, the mystery that pulsates in its every silence and stare,” Dolan added. “I also have to say that the relief and the intimacy I felt throughout the film watching women, just women, for two hours of my life, were a novelty I want to be seeking again.”
We’ll have to keep an eye out for when “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” will arrive around the world. And if you’re lucky enough to be at Cannes, you can also catch Dolan’s “Matthias & Maxime.”
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