Héloïse x Marianne

Héloïse x Marianne is the femslash ship between Héloïse and Marianne from the Portrait of a Lady on Fire fandom.

Canon
Marianne and Héloïse meet when the latter's mom commissions Marianne to paint an engagement portrait of her daughter. Marianne gets to the island where Héloïse lives in a very small rowboat, alongside a man that carries her there. However, when the boat hits a particularly rought wave, she ends up flying away from the boat, with zero help from the man who just watches. Marianne ends up being dropped off a remote island, which is where Héloïse's house is.

There she meets, Sophie, who works in the house, and who tells her that Héloïse "cannot be painte", without further explanation. The next morning, Héloïse's mom tells her that Héloïse's marriage is dependent upon the completion and acceptance of the portrait, since Héloïse doesn't even know the man she will marry. And she also warns Marianne that Héloïse totally refused to sit down for the last painter to paint her, so he never did and lefft. So Marianne has to pretend to be he walking companion while studying her on the sly. Later, when Marianne asks why does she have to accompany Héloïse for a walk, Sophie tells her that Héloïse's sister fell from the cliffs so the Comtesse is afraid of Héloïse being in the same danger.

So when their first time together starts, Marianne doesn't even make it to the end of the stairs when Héloïse takes off. Marianne runs behind her and almost has a heart attack when Héloïse suddenly breaks into a run, heading straight for the edge of the cliff. At the last, she stops abruptyl and turns around, giving Marianne her very first look at how Héloïse looks like. They talk very little, but Marianne manages to steal some glances at Héloïse, to remember her face to paint it in secret later. So that evening, Marianne starts painting the portrait.

Next day, since the day out is very windy, both girls start covering their faces. This time around, there's more staring and the both of them start talking. Héloïse asks Marianne how long will she be staying, to which she replies "six days." The next time they go on a walk, Marianne asks Héloïse if she thinks her sister killed herself. Impressed by Marianne's directness, Héloïse reveals that her sister left a note apologizing for forcing Héloïse into an arranged marriage meant for her. So later, Marianne has a conversation with Héloïse's mother, asking her to let Héloïse get out of the house more freely and without supervision, since she noticed she isn't sad, just angry. The Comtesse simply replies that she'll consider it.

Marianne is making excellent progress on the portratit, when Héloïse pops in unexpectedly, so Marianne is quick to hide all her stuff. Héloïse tells her that she was allowed to go to mass alone and how what she looks forward to the most is hearing the music. Which leads Marianne to play a section of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" on a forgotten harpsichord, pushed against the wall. While she plays, Héloïse can't stop sneaking glances at her.

Marianne and Héloïse begin to share their experiences and frustrations, their common quest for liberty and their views about equality during their multiple walks together. So they start to truly see one another. Marianne, too, went to a convent school but found it stifling and unjust. She left after her first communion, having been punished for drawing in the margins of her books. Héloïse, however, longs to return to the egalitarianism of convent life because “equality is a pleasant feeling,” she remarks. When Marianne divulges her true reason for being in Brittany and reveals the finished piece, Héloïse is so coldly critical of the portrait’s lifelessness that Marianne wipes out the entire face. Héloïse agrees to sit for a new painting while the Comtesse goes away for a week.

In the Comtesse’s absence, Héloïse and Marianne establish new modes of equality as they slowly become lovers. Héloïse gives voice to these psychological shifts while posing for her portrait, telling Marianne, “we’re in the same place. Exactly the same place.” When Marianne protests, Héloïse explains, “If you look at me, who do I look at?” As the two develop a dialogue around Marianne’s work, they soon establish a quasi-utopian sorority with Sophie, reading Ovid together, playing card games, attending a village bonfire, and even helping Sophie abort an unwanted pregnancy.

Inevitably disrupting this idyll the both of them created, the Comtesse returns, wedding dress for Héloïse in hand, and approves of the painting, which is duly shipped off. After saying goodbye to Héloïse, Marianne runs down the stairs; Héloïse follows, in a parallel to their first encounter, and Marianne opens the door, letting in blinding light. “Turn around,” Héloïse instructs. The two share a final glance, and we hear the door close. Years later, we encounter the pair once more in Paris. Marianne has exhibited a painting of Orpheus and Eurydice under her father’s name at the Louvre Salon; a portrait of Héloïse with a young child hangs nearby. Soon thereafter, Marianne glimpses Héloïse at the opera house. This time, the glance is one-sided: Héloïse fails to see Marianne in the opposite balcony, transported, instead, by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and, by her time spent with Marianne, who first played the piece for her.

Fanon
is the most popular ship from the Portrait of a Lady on Fire fandom. Due to the fact that the entire movie revolves around their relationship, it has become a very popular ship. Most of all, it has become a very popular femslash ship, mostly cited as a revolutionary representation of queer, wlw relationships in media. Most people who love this relationship often talk about how it understands the "female gaze" perfectly. Especially since the movie was directed by a woman, many fans love how perfectly portrayed their love was and some people even comment on how Portrait of a Lady on Fire "captures the essence of queer women’s desire in a way many other movies have tried and failed."

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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