English translation of Céline Sciamma’s screenplay for Portrait of a Lady on Fire/Portrait de la jeune fille en feu
Dear Portrait Nation:
This is an English translation of Céline Sciamma’s screenplay for Portrait de la jeune fille en feu that was recently published by Plain Archive. There are a number of typos in the screenplay. Those that appear to be on Plain Archive’s part, such as misattribution of dialogue to the incorrect character, have been corrected. The typos that seem to have been Sciamma’s (though really, there is no way to know for sure) have been preserved.
We have also preserved most of the punctuation as it appears in the Plain Archive screenplay. The result is what Grey only half-jokingly refers to as Sciamma’s tone sociopathy: in many instances where you would expect a question mark, for example, she simply uses a period.
This translation attempts to reflect Sciamma’s style of writing and doesn’t alter that for the sake of clarity. There are sentence fragments and also what appear to be camera directions that may be her personal shorthand cues to convey the visual or emotional gist of the scene.
There are many places where the dialogue here deviates from the official English subtitles seen in the film. For the most part, these are due to translation choices that attempt to convey what’s actually on the page: unlike the subtitles, we weren’t constrained by having to compromise about what would be readable onscreen within the time allotted by the rhythms of the scenes.
The translation may be downloaded here. This document was a true labor of love; we ask only that you not attempt to pass off the work as your own or sell it for profit. And if an official English translation ever becomes available for sale by Céline Sciamma and Lilies Films, please support it to the best of your abilities.
A personal note: I am indebted to @tonovember for her tireless work in putting together the transcript of the Plain Archive screenplay, as well as for formatting the translation into its final form. @morningmightcomebyaccident was invaluable in proofreading my endless drafts and acted as chief critic, goad and cheerleader. @ladyonfire28 contributed greatly to the translation and saved me from making a complete ass of myself on far too many occasions. @hedawolf kindly vetted the Italian dialogue for accuracy. These brilliant women challenged me to justify my choices, flagged anything questionable for discussion or debate, and frequently came up with the perfect word or phrase that had eluded me. Any errors or inconsistencies that remain are entirely my fault. Thank you, Nov, Grey, Aimée and Vittoria: you made this immeasurably better. And thank you, Céline Sciamma, for creating this exquisite masterpiece.
Dina
Updated 6/3/21: For those who have been asking, I’m afraid I don’t have a copy of the actual French script that I can share, but last year several of us put together an unofficial transcript of the film’s dialogue (the stage directions are in English). This is the dialogue as it exists onscreen, which is a bit different from what was written on the page. If you’re interested, you can download it here: https://pensoakspaper.tumblr.com/post/627910789832081408/dear-portrait-nation-in-the-spirit-of-celebrating
nezoid