"It's a masterpiece."
— Chris Hewitt, Minneapolis Star Tribune
"A superbly elegant, enigmatic drama ... I was on the edge of my seat."
— Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
"Céline Sciamma’s extraordinary fourth feature and a movie of body, heart, and mind."
— Ty Burr, Boston Globe
"Razor-sharp and shatteringly romantic ... as perfect a film as any to have premiered this year."
— David Ehrlich, IndieWire
"You've never seen another movie quite like this. In its quiet gaze, love becomes art."
— Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times
"It’s the rare movie that can take something as ancient as myth and use it to break your heart anew."
— Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
"It’s a film that gets brilliantly to the truth of how and why we fall in love, and replicates that sensation — and the heartache that follows."
— Barbara VanDenburgh, Arizona Republic
"Portrait of a Lady on Fire is primarily a romance. But it’s also a film about the deeply personal process of creativity—the pain and joy of making one’s emotions and memories into a work of art."
— David Sims, The Atlantic
"Portrait of a Lady on Fire is enthralling on every level. In her hypnotic and haunting film, alive with humor, heartbreak and swooning sensuality, Sciamma has created nothing less than a timeless work of art."
— Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"It is one of the most one of the most gorgeous films you will ever see in your life. Every single frame of it is like a picture that you want to hang in your home and it is just devastatingly romantic and sad and sexy and beautiful."
— Christy Lemire, Breakfast All Day
"Sharply subverting the male gaze at every turn, Sciamma has created an unforgettable treatise on thwarted desire. It is so very easy to label a film incendiary, but Portrait of a Lady on Fire deserves the scalding honour. It will ignite every flame you might have."
— Barry Hertz, The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
"Assaying [Sciamma's] first period film, an exquisitely executed love story that's both formally adventurous and emotionally devastating, she sticks the landing like a UCLA gymnast in peak condition. It's so good you'll want to watch again in slow-motion immediately afterwards just to see how she does it."
— Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter
"What makes the French masterpiece Portrait of a Lady on Fire — one of my favorite movies ever made, and the perfect Valentine’s Day date movie — so good is that it’s both a great romance and a great love story. The two bleed into each other so skillfully that you’ll almost miss where the romance begins and the love story ends."
— Todd VanDerWerff, Vox