The real challenge with a cinematic legend like Céline Sciamma is not in choosing what to watch, but what to see first out of the French filmmaker’s exquisite filmography. Not a prolific director per se, she usually inhabits more than one role: that of a costume designer, writer, casting director, often simultaneously. In between shoots, she also writes scripts for others, such as the stop motion animation My Life as a Courgette and the romantic drama Paris, 13th District. In all cases, she’s got a gift for turning everyday encounters into pure movie magic.
Now a two-time BAFTA nominee, the writer-director is famous for crafting female – often lesbian – characters who must confront and eventually yield to their desires, but still maintain their autonomy. Her films resonate with audiences on both emotional and intellectual levels partly because she has made a kind of reliable formula out of a topic as abstract as desire. Her films are about desire – to be intimate, to grow-up, to belong – but they are also born out of it, in place of a more traditional narrative drive such as conflict. But this doesn’t make it easier for any of her characters, who have to navigate a sea of impulses and uncertainties.
In her latest project Petit Maman (available on MUBI and coming to Criterion later this month), the filmmaker works in lower key to deliver a masterclass in minimalist, but profound storytelling: a childhood dream where joy and sorrow, motherhood and coming-of-age, are allowed to coexist. To mark the release, in celebration of the director’s wonderfully queer oeuvre, here’s how to get into Céline Sciamma movies.
The entry point is… Water Lilies (2007)
Sciamma wrote the script for her debut, Water Lilies, while still in film school, but it took a few years before she dove into the world of synchronised swimming in order to make it. Borrowing some teen rom-com tropes and decisively transgressing others, her first film simmers with angst, sexual discoveries and jealousy. Both a love triangle and an emotional tightrope for three adolescent girls (one of them played by Adèle Haenel), Water Lilies tackles signature Sciamma themes – such as queer desire and gender as performance – in perhaps the most direct way of all her works. Sharing this complex, self-sustained world will teach you the important lesson that while love itself is not a spectacle, falling in love always is. Watch out for the director’s only cameo as a McDonald’s cashier who refuses the girls a Happy Meal. Symbolic, no?
Necessary viewing? Tomboy (2011)
Tomboy is more than a sophomore feature, it is a staple of queer coming-of-age stories today. Don’t let its warmth and affection towards its child protagonist mislead you – its message is as uncompromisingly bold as any characteristic of Sciamma’s films. The film tells the moving story of a gender non-conforming 10-year-old who adopts male pronouns and the name Mikhaël. Speaking to audiences across gender and generational lines, the film made it into multiple French school curricula, since it presents struggles with gender dysphoria, expectations of passing, and the artificiality of social gender with great empathy.
The one everyone’s seen is… Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Heralded by many as the film that wrote the textbook on the female gaze, Portrait of a Lady on Fire is the film which propelled Sciamma to worldwide fame, and earned her a Golden Globe nomination. The lesbian period drama which had people flocking to cinemas to experience the most intense look-exchange in film since Carol might be Sciamma’s best-known work, and deservedly so. A love story in-the-making, the film unites two stellar French talents – Adèle Haenel and Noémie Merlant – in an entrancing, slow-burner romance on the coast of Brittany. Peppered with mythical references and even some ghostly apparitions, Portrait remains unsurpassed.
The under-appreciated gem is… Girlhood (2014)
Girlhood may be often overlooked, but it actually rounds up a thematic coming-of-age trilogy started with Water Lilies. This time, Sciamma zooms in on class and race divisions on the outskirts of Paris, where teenager Marieme (Karidja Touré) joins a girl gang. Tensions rise amidst petty theft, banter and intimidation, but they support each other as gal pals do. Sciamma’s gift as a filmmaker is to tell personal stories while preserving the ambivalence in all kinds of relationships — familial, romantic, or friendship — and Girlhood makes no exception. There’s a scene of exuberant joy where the girls pay for a hotel room with stolen money, drink, play dress-up, and sing along to Rihanna’s “Diamonds”. Legally speaking, it was a mess, since the film was shot before the rights were cleared, but as soon as she saw the scene in question, RiRi granted her immediate approval. A ringing celebrity endorsement if there ever was one!
The deep cut is… Pauline (2010)
Pauline is a treasure first and foremost because it’s the only short film by Céline Sciamma you can watch for free, right here and now on YouTube. It was commissioned for the campaign ‘Five Films Against Homophobia’ by Canal+ in 2010, so its primary purpose was to raise political awareness of anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry. Pauline is effectively a confession of homophobic abuse and neglect, frankly recounted in the first person by a young queer woman from a small village. It sounds formulaic, but it still carries the delicate touch of its maker, and stars Sciamma mainstay (and former partner) Adèle Haenel as the love interest, with a promise for a better future.