‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ Director Céline Sciamma Had That Sexy Armpit Scene In Mind From the Beginning

Portrait of a Lady on Fire is now streaming on Hulu, which means I expect every single person I know to have seen, cried over, and be ready to discuss this gorgeous French lesbian romance come Monday morning.

Written and directed by Céline Sciamma, the Portrait of a Lady on Fire cast includes French actress Adèle Haenel as a beautiful young woman named Héloïse living on the isolated island of Brittany (social distancing!) in 18th century France. Her sister has died of implied suicide, and her mother The Countess (Valeria Golino) is now afraid to let her go outside by herself. She also wants her daughter to have her portrait painted for her arranged husband-to-be in Milan. Héloïse refuses; she doesn’t want to be married.

The Countess hires an artist named Marianne (Noémie Merlant) and instructs her to paint Héloïse in secret. Héloïse thinks Marianne has been hired as a companion, to accompany Héloïse on her daily walks (social distancing!). Over lingering looks, accidental hand brushes, and seaside strolls, the two women fall in love.

And yes, like any good period romance, there is a Portrait of a Lady on Fire sex scene—sort of. While the scene where Marianne and Héloïse have sex for the first time fades to black, Sciamma employs a clever visual gag in which both women apply some kind of herbal hallucinogen drug to each other’s armpits. Sciamma films a close-up of a hand sliding in and out of an armpit, which looks a lot like, well, you know.

At a director’s Q&A at the Cinépolis Chelsea in New York City on February 15, Sciamma told the audience she had that particular scene in mind for quite some time.

“I had the idea of the armpit before I had the idea of the drug,” Sciamma said, “and then I thought, oh, maybe they can put the drug in the armpit. And also, the armpit—that’s where the second clitoris is.”

After a long pause and nervous laughter from audience members, the moderator, Vulture’s Rachel Handler observed, “You just taught a lot of people some stuff.”

“Yeah,” Sciamma replied. “Don’t tell anyone!”

On a more serious note, Sciamma spoke about working with her leads Haenel and Merlant on making this particular sex scene not a simulation, but an idea.

“We were all collaborating on this idea that it was sexy and fun, and also there was room for you,” Sciamma said. “That thing about the male gaze logic defining women is that you’re basically held hostage. You don’t have a choice. You can close your eyes, but otherwise, the image is giving you an order. How we feel, what arouses us—sometimes we are held hostage by this, because, you know, it works! It’s education, it’s training. The fact that you could be lost in this image, and wandering, and having fun with it… I mean, that’s a journey of sex. That’s the idea of sex.”

Should Céline Sciamma direct all sex scenes from here on out? I think maybe she should.

Watch Portrait of a Lady on Fire on Hulu