Welcome to another mailbag episode! This week we discuss whether or not Héloïse checked Marianne out after she came back from church (a.k.a. the sexiest time to check out ur girlfriend), how we feel about how white queer movies seem to be, whether or not Marianne had an abortion, and whether or not the countess knew about their relationship! Dang! We also talk about fun stuff that's been floating around social media lately including Valerie Complex's chat with Noémie, Plain Archive's plans to publish the official screenplay, and the new Criterion DVD. There's A LOT to cover! Allons-y!

Show links

• Valerie & Noémie

• Plain Archive

In anticipation of Criterion's official Portrait of a Lady on Fire DVD release date in a few days, we decided to watch the whole thing together for the first time. Want to hang out and watch it with us? GREAT. Make some popcorn, grab your delicately embroidered handkerchief, get comfy, and hit play!

In honor of National Pride Month (in the US at least), we decided to talk about how much Big Dyke Energy (a.k.a. BDE) Marianne and Héloïse exude. Once you start looking for it, you see it everywhere, so we narrowed our list down to . . . you guessed it: 28 instances. We also talk a lot about ducks. 🤷🏽‍♀️ Happy Pride! 🏳️‍🌈 🦆

Links from the show:

This week we're joined by Alex Heeney and Orla Smith who co-authored and edited Portraits of Resistance, the first book dedicated to the filmography of our queen, Céline Sciamma. We talk to them about their interviews with Céline, Adèle, and Noémie; how Céline changed the way they think and talk to other directors about film; their top films of the decade; and much more.

Links from the show:

In this episode, we sit down with writer and film critic Valerie Complex to talk about interviewing and hanging out (?!?!) with Céline, Adèle, and Noémie (SPOILER ALERT: they're great). We also discuss Portrait fan fiction, queer cinema, diversity + representation, 3 Lesbian Lawyers, a "fascinating friendship", and so much more.

Links from the show:

• Valerie Complex: https://valeriecomplex.com/

• Valerie's Valentine's Day interview with Céline: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29zDUFVkdko&feature=youtu.be

• Steamy, beautiful fan fiction: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22325119/chapters/53327722

• Could Marianne have been from another country? (Graciously translated by Aimée! 💐) https://ladyonfire28.tumblr.com/post/616990827466588160/christel-baras-did-an-interesting-interview-on-a

We are workin' our way through our inbox! This week we talk about a VERY IMPORTANT CORRECTION OMG, why Marianne's first portrait triggered so many hurt feelings, who Marianne might be narrating this story to, what's up with their scarves, and who makes the first move!

NEWSFLASH: there is SO MUCH FIRE in Portrait of a Lady on . . . what was it again? Oh, yeah. EFFING FIRE. I mean, we all got the figurative fire and some of the literal fire, but there's so much more when you try your best to ignore the growing, burning desire between the two clearly smitten French island lesbians and HEY [*claps at your face*] JUST FOCUS ON THE LITERAL FIRE. We definitely missed a lot the first five or so times we watched it, so in this episode we stare directly into the flames and try to figure out what it all means.

So, it turns out Portrait Nation has A LOT of questions. In this special bonus episode, we try our best to answer two of them: "Did Marianne and Héloïse have period sex?" And "Why didn't they ever try to meet up again?"

(Edit 9/11/20: after recording this episode we realized we used gendered language throughout the following discussion. We recognize that trans, nonbinary, and genderqueer people can also have periods, and we apologize for our careless use of language.)

Chers amis, this week we welcome our very first guest: the gracious and brilliant Aimée. You may recall us mentioning the person who's translating the POALOF French DVD commentary and posting it to Tumblr as ladyonfire28, yes? Well, today she's here to teach us all Portrait French! And we, your intrepid American podcast hosts, try very hard to learn it.

But first, we talk to Aimée about how she fell in love with Portrait, which scene she feels should be discussed more, which painting from the film she'd like to bring home and much, much more.

Follow Aimée on Tumblr: https://ladyonfire28.tumblr.com/

Buckle up, fellow Portrait lovers! Today we're going scene by scene and talking about some of the film's hidden gems. Along the way, we discuss things like whether Sophie knew about Marianne and Héloïse's relationship and how great pockets are! Then we introduce a new segment: "In Solitude We Saw the Tweet You Spoke of" where we talk about some of our favorite Portrait content around the Internet, and we wrap things up with some listener mail! Es-tu prêt? Allons-y!

Don't forget to check out Amazing Lucy's breakdown of Portrait of a Lady on Fire!