Essay Example on Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Cleo from 5 to 7 - Female Gaze on Lesbianism

Cinema has not been a suitable medium for women. Only a few films have portrayed the idea of lesbianism, and when they convey such information, the protagonists are, in most instances, hypersexualized. The movie “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is authored by Celine Sciamma, a lesbian filmmaker, who depicts the fiery romance of two women via a female gaze. Agnes Varda directs “Cleo from 5 to 7” to display a single woman struggle to understand the chances of her potential illness and, at the same time dealing with her beauty. Because “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and “Cleo from 5 to 7” establish a female gaze and avert male dominance, the use of lightning, make-up, and costumes are the leading factors.

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“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” tends to avert that male dominance in favor of the female gaze. The film has hardly been endowed with men characters, and once they appear, they tend to have their faces out of focus. The film uniquely uses of costumes without leaving various aspects ("How portrait of a lady on fire celebrates the female gaze"). Every female character appears in a single and straightforward dress for most of the movie. The filmmaker uses camera to capture the story out of stares and glances where the face of a woman character is illuminated by mirrored surfaces, cruel and white sun experienced on beaches, and candlelight that calls for careful observation. In the film, the viewers are introduced to opening shots in which the camera captures young girl’s faces with close-ups as they gaze over at their instructor, Marianne, some years after love affairs. The film seems to be a female gaze, transfixing tableaux, and fine-spun romance.

Even though men miss in the majority part of the movie, they still play a crucial role in creating boundaries to the world. From the character Marianne, viewers observe how females are restrained from studying the male’s anatomy puritanically. For that reason, women tend to be stereotyped from vital subjects. For instance, Heloise's life is consigned to marriage, which is not based on love with a man she barely recognizes. In this context, the portrait is applied as a countdown clock to conclude their idyll.

Agnes Varda reveals to the viewers how Cleo is struggling with her beauty to be attractive in the current society of the 1960s. One thing that comes to light is the ability Cleo to trivialize her challenges with how she views others as the film progress by focusing on developing the male gaze ("Feminism and Cleo from 5 to 7"). Even though the film tends to create a male’s gaze via repeated Cleo objectification, it tends to subvert the concepts and rather confront the audience to view women as a passive object. Thus, they are more likely to have pleasure in their looking. Viewers are introduced to scopophilia, where individuals observe themselves as a source of happiness. In this context, a person tends to have active looking where everything that is seen is passive and receives the gaze. The Film “Cleo from 5 to 7” also relies on the visual pleasure that is observed in a narcissistic state. In this context, it derives pleasure via the identification act and the image is perceived. For instance, Dorothee participates in blank models for a class to drop some reels off.

In the film “Cleo from 5 to 7” the camera is tilted when Cleo roams across the streets of Paris. Viewers understand that Cleo had become someone who watches people instead of being the person who should be viewed as when the film began. The difference may have developed as a result of her legendary singing status and beauty. The fact that the passing crowd watching proves that Cleo is undergoing a transition time. Also, the use of cut between her shots and the moving people’ shot displays the transitional change in portraying who watches the other, but also create the idea of passing the time ("Feminism and Cleo from 5 to 7"). Individuals’ captions are intermixed with shots that viewers have met at the beginning of the film, which includes piano player, the boyfriend, the widow, and the monkey sited on a clock with wigs on the mirror. Also, the events that unfold convey how individuals view Cleo and how she observes herself. Varda creates a genius montage since the events represent the same thing on how people view Cleo and how she also sees herself.

Cleo exclaimed that “everything suits me” to purchase an expensive winter even though it was summer ("Feminism and Cleo from 5 to 7"). In this context, viewers understand that time extended for Cleo before the purchase. On their way home, Cleo and Dominique Davray are harassed by men. Despite the harassment, they laugh it off before her darkness return when she observed unique carved ornaments in a window ("Feminism and Cleo from 5 to 7"). In her flat, Cleo has several kittens, piano, and extravert bed, and other furniture. One of the supporting fact that Cleo likes costume is when Jose Luis de Villanga, her lover visits and show her new materials.

“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is based on a dynamic and erotic relationship between women when they find their wants fulfilled with one another. Also, the film is about the power of art to console, preserve, and validate after the end of romance. Without using men in the movie, Sciamma displays the myriads approach where patriarch constricts female characters’ life. One of the aspects that are affected mainly in the film is Heloise. Even after being forced to marry a rich Italian man, Heloise exclaimed that “equality is a pleasant feeling.” She had observed any orchestra play despite being a literature and music lover.

On the contrary, Marriane understands the freedom of her life. Apart from speaking the right Italian language, Marianne has to submit the best items under her fathers’ name to be displayed at the Salon exhibitions. On one occasion, Marianne successfully secured the gig to construct Heloise’s portrait, to seal betrothal between the Italian and Heloise. The events occurred when Heloise had failed to pose for a male painter.

When applying make-ups and costumes, other women are misused, which creates a sportive tension. In the film “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” Comtesse convinced Marianne to lie to help him win Heloise’s cooperation by painting the portrait. For that reason, Marianne had to work on the picture at night by only stealing few furtive glances, especially when Heloise's face is hidden behind a hooded cape with hands folded on the laps at the beach. By the time she confessed about the project, Heloise longs to see it. Ideally, the image is a haunting caption as it showcases the Heloise background, dress, and body. When she observed the portrait, she exclaimed, “Haenel, and it should be said, has one of the most compelling faces in the current cinema, her smile lines and a groove between her eyebrows etching traces of emotion into even her passive expressions” ("How portrait of a lady on fire celebrates the female gaze"). From Marianne's eyes, readers can understand how she got the portrait all wrong such as misinterpreting Heloise posture, Jewelry, and hands. In other words, when the man observes the picture, he forgot to see Heloise.

From the film, Marianne and Heloise engage in a heated provocation laced by mutual challenge and understanding. Marianne says, “I didn’t know you were an art critic,” whereas Heloise yelled back, claiming that she never knew that Marianne was a painter ("How portrait of a lady on fire celebrates the female gaze"). Heloise wants Marianne to understand that, unlike the other objects, she is not like them. According to Heloise, her character is not docile and not domesticated. For that reason, she reminds Marianne in the second portrait that she is the subject, and as painter Marianne should do more than scrutiny. Heloise needs to be appraised as she also believes in assessing.

“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is structured on looking act and how it meant to be seen. The filmmaker’s camera worships the women protagonists with a gaze that is direct and appreciative. Sciamma gives Heloise an entrance heck, a bonnet at first conceals viewers. As the film evolves, the film shapes towards close-ups, screen-filling, and gorgeous worthy a silent movie star. Heloise is introduced in her fragment, where Marianne tries to burn in her brain details concerning her earlobes and hands when Marianne avoids getting caught.

The camera shots covers Heloise, who is full of nude forms where she lies on her bed with a small mirror blocking her pubis. At the same time, Marianne is captioned as reflecting on her while sketching a self-portrait. From this point, readers understand that the image repels sentimentality even though they appear as they risk it. Although the film is based on female solidarity, the movie does not cast a feminism perspective in a sepia tone. Notably, Schiamma only allows sisterhood to uphold and grow out of the austere traditionalism setting. For instance, the three women Sophie, Heloise, and Marianne, engages in a quiet utopian routine after Comtesse had left.

Sciasma also introduces the aspect of a female gaze that cut across the central romance. The filmmaker submits a young maid, Sophie, who engages in abortion. Although this event happened, Marianne recreates it into painting, where she reframes the act from a women's perspective. Viewers observe that the film tends to uncover the Greek myth of Eurydice and Orpheus. The concept can be supported by the phrase “basically about how the male gaze can kill you” to reveal what can happen to a man who opts to choose the image of a woman over women themselves ("How portrait of a lady on fire celebrates the female gaze"). The concept also reveal how women are stereotype.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Agnes Varda reveals to the viewers how Cleo is struggling with her beauty to be attractive in the current society of the 1960s. Viewers understand that Cleo had become someone who watches people instead of being the person who should be viewed as when the film began. Every female character appears in a simple and a single dress for most of the Sciasma films, whereas Cleo changes many dresses.

Works Cited

"Feminism and Cleo from 5 to 7." Feminist Film Theory and Cléo from 5 to 7, 2016, doi:10.5040/9781501313721.ch-003.

"How portrait of a lady on fire celebrates the female gaze." British Film Institute, 23 Mar. 2020, www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/portrait-lady-fire-female-gaze.