Seventh Row

A place to think deeply about movies

LGBTQ+ Film - podcast episodes

Discover all of our podcast episodes on LGBTQ+ films and filmmakers.

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Ep. 30: Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Our latest episode of the Seventh Row podcast is the perfect companion piece to our new ebook, Portraits of Resistance, which focuses on Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney is joined by Executive Editor Orla Smith and Associate Editor Brett Pardy gather on the podcast to discuss Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady of Fire, a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of our new book, and reader reactions.

Seventh Row podcast ep. 30: Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Listen to the podcast on Portrait of a Lady on Fire

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Setting Portrait of a Lady on Fire in the 1700s allowed Céline Sciamma to create a heightened romance, what she referred to at TIFF as “cinema plus plus”: the costumes had to be carefully chosen because everyone wore the same thing throughout, the setting became all the more important and romantic, and the stakes for the romance were higher, too. Like Call Me by Your Name before it, Portrait is the story of a queer romance bound to a particular place and time — that it has an expiration date makes it no less intense or important.  The winner of the Cannes Best Screenplay prize, Portrait is a masterclass in structure.

The winner of the Cannes Best Screenplay prize, Portrait is a masterclass in structure. When Alex interviewed Sciamma about Girlhood, she talked about wanting to create the “desire to see a face” or “the appetite for [a] face.” Sciamma pushes this to the extreme in Portrait, creating immense suspense in our desire to see Héloīse (Adèle Haenel), the noble woman that Marianne (Noémie Merlant) has been commissioned to paint. We track Marianne on a long journey to Héloīse’s home, and then hear about Héloīse from everyone she knows. Even the first time she appears on screen, we follow her from behind, on tenterhooks for her to turn around and show us her face.

The film explores women’s limited opportunities in the 1700s, the forgotten female artists of the time, the consequences of indulging one’s sexuality with men (a subplot involves multiple abortive attempts), and finally, the egalitarian love that two women can find in each other. At the same time, Sciamma deliberately upends any ideas of artistic muses. Marianne may start out thinking Héloīse is merely her subject — a feeling heightened by the fact that she must observe her closely in order to paint her in secret — but Sciamma reminds us Héloīse is observing Marianne, too. The romance that follows feels contemporary even as it’s believably rooted in the constrictions of the day. 

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Ep. 8: Best of 2018 Canadian cinema, part 1

Episode 8 of our podcast begins our discussion on the best of 2018 Canadian Cinema, through the lens of Canada’s Top Ten Film List. In this episode, we discuss Anthropocene, Edge of the Knife, Firecrackers, The Fireflies are Gone, and Freaks.

Each year, the Toronto International Film Festival releases a list of Canada’s ten best films. Using this list to guide discussion, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, Associate Editor Brett Pardy, and Contributing Writer Justine Smith discuss the best of Canadian cinema in 2018.

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We have split our discussion into two episodes to cover each film with depth. On this episode, we discuss:

  • Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (dirs. Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, & Edward Burtynsky)
  • Sgaawaay K’uuna (Edge of the Knife) (dirs. Gwaai Edenshaw & Helen Haig-Brown)
  • Firecrackers (dir. Jasmin Mozaffari)
  • The Fireflies Are Gone (La disparition des lucioles) (dir. Sébastien Pilote)
  • Freaks (dir. Zach Lipovsky & Adam Stein)

We also discusses the selection process and why this list is important the Canadian film industry. Part 2 will be posted next week.

Interview: Anthropocene is an awe-inspiring look at environmental destruction. Co-directors Jennifer Baichwal, Edward Burtynsky, and Nicholas de Pencier discuss their third collaboration, Anthropocene: The Human Epoch.

Interview: Edge of the Knife tells a pre-colonialism story of the Haida legend of ‘The Wildman’. Co-director and Haida artist Gwaai Edenshaw discusses his landmark film Edge of the Knife (Swaaway K’uuna), the first feature film made in the Haida language.

We included Anthropocene, Edge of the Knife, Firecrackers, and The Fireflies are Gone as among our top 20 acquistion titles at TIFF ’18.

This episode was edited by Edward von Aderkas.

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Discover more great Canadian films

The last year was one of the best for Canadian cinema in history. Discover these great films through conversations with the filmmakers, guided by the Seventh Row editors in our inaugural annual book, The 2019 Canadian Cinema Yearbook.

Get your copy now!

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Ep. 4: Suspiria and Luca Guadagnino’s violent bodies

In the fourth episode of our film podcast, we talk about Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria and find unexpected connections between its gory violence and chaos, and Guadagnino’s more gentle works A Bigger Splash and Call Me By Your Name.

This episode is a Seventh Row members exclusive, as are all episodes older than six months. Click here to become a member.

Episode 4: Suspiria and Luca Guadagnino’s violent bodies

In the fourth episode of our film podcast, we come to grips with Luca Guadagnino’s unruly, upsetting, yet fascinating Suspiria. The film is based on Dario Argento’s 1977 film of the same name, yet Guadagnino insists he did not remake the horror classic, and only took inspiration from it.

Taking place in late 1970s Berlin, Guadagnino’s film follows young American amateur dancer Susie Banion (Dakota Johnson), as she quickly comes to prove her worth to the teachers of the Helena Markos Dance Company. Main teacher Madame Blanc (played by Tilda Swinton) is especially unsettled by the arrival of this prodigy, but her interest goes way beyond contemporary dance alone: Banion’s ability to perform certain numbers has a direct and gruesome effect on the wellbeing of her peers, to the delight of the teachers behind the scenes…

We’ve dedicated two Special Issues to Luca Guadagnino’s work before: one on his Italy-set crime drama A Bigger Splash, and another — our most popular — to his bittersweet romance Call Me By Your Name. As Associate Editor Orla Smith, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, and Associate Editor Elena Lazic discuss the new film, they soon unveil discreet but undeniable connections between the madness and violence of Suspiria, and Guadagnino’s sweeter yet often brutal two previous films.

Visit our page on Luca Guadagnino

To get the most out of this episode, we recommend listeners watch the film as well as Guadagnino’s previous work, then read our Special Issues on A Bigger Splash and Call Me By Your Name.

This episode was edited by Edward von Aderkas.

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