Céline Sciamma’s heartrending drama Portrait of a Lady On Fire deals in wistful glances. Stirring retorts, laden with a multitude of meanings. Longing. And lust. A rich meditation of love and art akin to a sharp inhalation of breath, and an emotional flooding of the soul.

On the windswept coast of Brittany in the 1770s, two women, Marianne and Héloïse – a painter and its subject – fall in love slowly, and then all at once.

In the exclusive clip below, they notice and observe idiosyncrasies of each other’s personalities, with a quiet measured intensity barely concealing their confession of love – and the perceptible pain that comes with this realisation.

Watch the exclusive clip below…