The Mechanics of Desire: Deconstructing 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire'
When you’ve spent thirty years fighting for every euro on independent film sets, you develop a distinct allergy to the romance of filmmaking. The press loves to talk about the “magic” of a period piece, as if the director merely closed her eyes and willed the 18th century into existence. But when you are standing in the freezing damp of a historic château in Seine-et-Marne, knowing you only have 38 days to capture a masterpiece, there is no magic. There is only geometry, physics, and a relentless ticking clock. ...