Desire-driven filmmaking: Céline Sciamma and Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019, France)

Authors: Philippa Burne¹, Angie Black²
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¹ UniSA Creative & VCA, University of Melbourne ² VCA, University of Melbourne
Source: Shaping Global Cultures through Screenwriting , pp 391-407
Publication Date: September 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/9781835951590_29
Language: English
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In 2019, French writer-director Céline Sciamma released her fourth feature film, Portrait of a Lady on Fire. A queer period story about a painter and a model falling in love, set entirely in the world of women, the film won the Queer Palm at Cannes that year – the first film directed by a woman to win the award. In addition, the script won Best Screenplay and the film was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or. Since then, Sciamma has discussed her filmmaking development process, part of which is her innovative theory of screenwriting: driving action through desire rather than conflict. Sciamma aims to take back screen storytelling from the masculinist orthodoxy of conflict, forces of antagonism and the hero’s journey, instead exploring emotion as the key element. It is a radical approach with the potential to revolutionize the way women tell their stories on screen and it challenges the tight grip of the Western form of screen storytelling on global cinema. This chapter argues that Sciamma’s idea of ‘desire scenes’ as the initiator for screenwriting is an exciting and revolutionary addition to screen storytelling and offers screenwriters new tools for writing women’s and queer stories for the screen.

Keywords: Céline Sciamma ; desire scenes ; female gaze ; Portrait of a Lady on Fire ; screenwriting ; women’s and queer screen storytelling

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References

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TIFF (2019), ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Cast and Crew Q&A’, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88L8pIEr1nk. Accessed 8 December 2022.
TIFF (2020), ‘Céline Sciamma on the female gaze in Portrait of a Lady on Fire’, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnbXcJjkc20. Accessed 5 December 2022.
TIFF Talks (2019), ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire Cast and Crew Q&A’, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88L8pIEr1nk. Accessed 10 December 2022.
Tomboy (2011), C. Sciamma (writer-director), France: Hold Up Films.
Vogler, C. (1992), The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, San Francisco: Michael Wiese Productions.
Wilson, E. (2021), Céline Sciamma: Portraits, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

References

BAFTA Guru (2020), ‘Screenwriters’ Lecture Series: Céline Sciamma’, YouTube, 13 February, https://guru.bafta.org/c%C3%A9line-sciamma-screenwriters%E2%80%99-lecture-series. Accessed 12 October 2020.
Bande de filles (Girlhood) (2014), C. Sciamma (writer and director), France: Hold Up Films.
Blackhurst, A. (2019), ‘The defiant muse’, Los Angeles Review of Books, 22 December, https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-defiant-muse. Accessed 12 October 2020.
[Google Scholar]
Campbell, J. (1949), The Hero with a Thousand Faces, New York: Pantheon.
Cleary, S. (2019), ‘Lecture series on women, power and film’, June, lecture notes, Melbourne: RMIT University.
[Google Scholar]
Fuery, K. (2022), Ambiguous Cinema: From Simone de Beauvoir to Feminist Film-phenomenology, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Garcia, M. (2019), ‘Deconstructing the filmmaker’s gaze: An interview with Céline Sciamma’, Cineaste, 45:1, pp. 8–11.
[Google Scholar]
Hambly, G. (2021), ‘The not so universal hero’s journey’, Journal of Screenwriting, 12:2, pp. 135–50.
[Google Scholar]
HeyUGuys (2020), ‘Director Céline Sciamma talks about her beautiful new film Portrait of a Lady on Fire’, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNIGRXPy7g0&t=2s. Accessed 5 December 2022.
Hudson, K. (2009), The Virgin’s Promise, San Francisco: Michael Wiese Productions.
Jacey, H. (2010), The Woman in the Story, Los Angeles: Michael Wiese Productions.
Murdock, M. (1990), The Heroine’s Journey: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness, Boulder, CO: Shambhala.
Naissance des pieuvres (Water Lilies) (2007), C. Sciamma (writer-director), France: Balthazar Productions.
Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) (2019), C. Sciamma, Céline (wr-dir), France: Lilies Films.
[Google Scholar]
Sciamma, C. (2018), ‘Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (Portrait of a Lady on Fire), a Film by Céline Sciamma, shooting script’ (unofficial English translation), (eds Morningmightcomebyaccident and Tonovember, trans. Mlleclaudine, Ladyonfire28, and Vittoria), 10 October, https://mega.nz/file/b0JRWY7J#lbrBZJRykHzvv5IE3VmL-XYFTQMBGJs9dhbqKLnVSzc. Accessed 25 October 2022.
Senje, S. (2017), ‘Formatting the imagination: A reflection on screenwriting as creative practice’, Journal of Screenwriting, 8:3, pp. 267–85.
[Google Scholar]
Solnit, R. (2019), ‘When the hero is the problem’, Literary Hub, 2 April, https://lithub.com/rebecca-solnit-when-the-hero-is-the-problem. Accessed 25 October 2022.
[Google Scholar]
St James, E. (2020), ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire director Céline Sciamma on her ravishing romantic masterpiece’, Vox, 19 February, https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/2/19/21137213/portrait-of-a-lady-on-fire-céline-sciamma-interview. Accessed 7 December 2022.
[Google Scholar]
Syme, R. (2020), ‘Portrait of A Lady on Fire is more than a “Manifesto of the Female Gaze”’, The New Yorker, 4 March, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/portrait-of-a-lady-on-fire-is-more-than-a-manifesto-on-the-female-gaze. Accessed 7 December 2022.
[Google Scholar]
TIFF (2019), ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Cast and Crew Q&A’, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88L8pIEr1nk. Accessed 8 December 2022.
TIFF (2020), ‘Céline Sciamma on the female gaze in Portrait of a Lady on Fire’, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnbXcJjkc20. Accessed 5 December 2022.
TIFF Talks (2019), ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire Cast and Crew Q&A’, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88L8pIEr1nk. Accessed 10 December 2022.
Tomboy (2011), C. Sciamma (writer-director), France: Hold Up Films.
Vogler, C. (1992), The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, San Francisco: Michael Wiese Productions.
Wilson, E. (2021), Céline Sciamma: Portraits, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

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