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Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) poster

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

Portrait de la jeune fille en feu

Drama, Romance, History • 2h 1m

Director: Céline Sciamma

Cast: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luàna Bajrami, Valeria Golino, Christel Baras, Armande Boulanger, Guy Delamarche, Clément Bouyssou

Best English-friendly release

Updated 2 months ago

Best video release

Pyramide France Blu-ray

Streaming in 4K on Netflix

Supposed to have better translation than Criterion.


Upcoming

Curzon 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release


About the film

On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.

TSPDT
2026: #173
2025: #182
2024: #181
2023: #187

Featured in Sight and Sound’s Greatest Films

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Director: Vittorio De Sica

Best Video & Audio:

2020 Arrow Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

2020 Arrow Blu-ray is new 4K restoration and encoded by FiM.

Director: F. W. Murnau

Director: Sam Peckinpah

Upcoming Release:

4K Blu-ray said to be coming from Criterion, per Bill Hunt

Video Notes:

Includes Director's Cut and Roadshow Version

Same master as old WB Blu-ray but better encoding

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Solid
Best Video:

WB 4K

Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

An undeniably significant improvement from the BD yet still severely flawed. See DFIC's review.

Best Audio:

1984 MGM Hi-Fi VHS

Director: Buster Keaton

Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber new Seven Chances / Sherlock Jr. Blu-ray?

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

MoC 4K Blu-ray late 2027

Video Notes:

Lobster Films (Kino Lorber?) > Cohen/Eureka https://slow.pics/c/3KWXoMyR The new Kino Lorber's Seven Chances / Sherlock Jr. might be using the same restoration as Lobster Films

Director: Billy Wilder

4K · Excellent
Best Video & Audio:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Audio Notes:

(transfer of the 1989 MGM LaserDisc, without problems plaguing Kino Lorber's release)

Additional Info:

Arrow UHD is an update of the original 4K scan done for their BD. It is also visually far superior to the Kino version and adds Dolby Vision HDR. The Arrow UHD uses a new LD mono capture and has none of the issues or processing found in the Kino UHD which also used an LD mono capture and somehow mucked it up. Short of a brand new scan, the Arrow UHD is as good as it possibly can be.

Director: Michael Cimino

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

2020 Shout! Factory 4K

Video Notes:

2020 Shout! Factory 4K slightly better than StudioCanal in HDR10. Similar in DV

Best Audio:

35mm mix: 1991 Universal LaserDisc

70mm mix: StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

35mm mix: 1991 Universal LaserDisc marginally better than StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray is downmix.

70mm mix: StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray is remix.

Director: Orson Welles

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

WB Europe 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

WB Europe 4K Blu-ray slightly better encoding than Criterion (caveat: missing Criterion extras)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

4K · Excellent
Best Video:

Theatrical Cut: Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray
Redux Cut: Lionsgate vs Eagle Pictures?
Final Cut: Lionsgate or Eagle Pictures, both are not great (visible chroma noise)

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Theatrical: Germany 4K Blu-ray/US Blu-ray DD 5.1 (1979 mix)

Additional Info:

In the Lionsgate US/UK 6-disc set, there are 4 discs of the main feature. For whatever reason, the 4K discs lack the *original track. The Germany 4K Blu-ray release is different on this matter.

  1. UBD: Final Cut: Atmos, DD2.0

  2. UBD: Redux/Theatrical: Atmos

  3. BD: Final Cut: Atmos, DD2.0

  4. BD: Redux/Theatrical: Dtru5.1 (Redux mix?), DD5.1 (?), DD5.1 (Theatrical only), DD2.0 (downmix??)

    1. As a result the Theatrical Cut has 4 tracks, The Redux has 3. Differences are unclear.

  5. BD: Hearts of Darkness

  6. BD: Special Features

Director: George Lucas

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best Video:

OG: "4K77" or "D+77" on high seas.

Special Edition: "4K97_IV" or "D+97_IV" on high seas.

Upcoming Release:

2027 Original Trilogy restoration/50th anniversary rerelease clips leaked plus release confirmed

Best Audio:

OG: LaserDisc audio is the best option for the Dolby Stereo mixes (and usually included in fan restorations). There are 16mm/TV rips of the mono mixes.

Special Edition: Cinema DTS or 1997 LaserDisc for the Special Edition.

More from Céline Sciamma

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Director: Céline Sciamma

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Pyramide France Blu-ray

Video Notes:

But they're close

More from Curzon

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Director: Roy Andersson

Director: Béla Tarr

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray see caps

Additional Info:

For BD:

Director: Béla Tarr

4K · Solid
Best Video:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray see caps

For BD, Curzon Blu-ray is similar to Arbelos Blu-ray

Director: Michael Haneke

Best Video & Audio:

2025 Curzon UK Blu-ray (Haneke boxset)

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

2025 Curzon UK Blu-ray or 2013 TF1 FR Blu-ray (caps)

Curzon has a slightly better encode and preserves all the noise of the digital source, but ends up obscuring actual detail in some shots. Both are quite good, only caveat being that the TF1 disc is slightly cropped and has a black bar on top.

Audio Notes:

2008 Artificial Eye UK and 2025 Umbrella AU discs have incorrect pitch. TF1 FR disc is missing 7 minutes of audio in the left channel. See spectrograms.

Director: Walter Salles

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Original matrixed Dolby Stereo: Curzon 4K Blu-ray
Surround mix: Vision Film Polish PAL DVD (2000)

Audio Notes:

The surround mix is fully discrete, not a mere decode or upmix of the Dolby Stereo LCRS track. This mix has never appeared on any other releases.

Director: Jean Vigo

4K · Excellent
Best Video:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray with much better encoding than the Gaumont Blu-ray with the same 4K restoration see caps

Criterion Blu-ray uses an older restoration

Director: Jean Vigo

4K · Excellent

Director: Jean Vigo

4K · Excellent

Directors: Jean Vigo & Boris Kaufman

4K · Excellent

Director: Michael Haneke

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· last reviewed 2 months ago

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