Description
Critics are raving about Portraits of resistance: The first full-length ebook ever written on Céline Sciamma and her films
“Erudite and casual, Portraits of Resistance will force readers into…running back to watch every Sciamma film to see what they missed.” – Alfred Soto, Film Critic
“An easily accessible guide to thinking on Sciamma’s [first] four feature-length films.” – Andrew Kendall, Starbroek News
“A cornerstone for future Sciamma scholarship.” – Shelagh Rowan-Legg, Screen Anarchy
More about Portraits of resistance
Published in 2020, this is the first book-length study of Céline Sciamma’s films, and the only non-academic book.
Portraits of resistance is an essential companion to Portrait of a Lady on Fire and the essential guide to all of Céline Sciamma’s films. Portraits of resistance contains interviews with the cast and crew, as well as essays on the film and Céline Sciamma’s career. This will also be the first book ever published to be dedicated entirely to Sciamma’s work! She’s been making amazing films for over a decade now, so we’re proud to honour her work in this way.
The ebook explores Céline Sciamma’s films put social outcasts centre stage. Their gaze is centred as they learn to be themselves through interacting with nature (much of Tomboy takes place outside; the ocean is the backdrop to the story in Portrait), inhabiting women’s spaces (the changing rooms in Water Lilies; hotel rooms and bedrooms in Girlhood), and making connections with people who understand and accept them (the best friends in Water Lilies; Laure’s/Mickäel’s relationship with their younger sister in Tomboy; Girlhood’s girl gang; the romance between painter and subject in Portrait). Yet even these safe spaces cannot hold forever against the weight of societal prejudices and injustices.
The ebook Portraits of resistance, contains interviews with Céline Sciamma, Portrait of a Lady on Fire actresses Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel, as well as Sciamma’s sound editor. On top of that, essays from EIC Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, Associate Editor Brett Pardy, and writers Lena Wilson, Ben Flanagan, and Angelo Muredda will delve into what makes Sciamma’s films so special. Read entire chapters on Water Lilies (2007), Tomboy (2011), and Girlhood (2014), plus several essays on Portrait, focusing on its exploration of the gaze of the two central lovers.
