In that vision, Portrait of a Lady on Fire also avoids period conventions that validate the male gaze. For example, there’s no panic or questioning involved in its portrayal of same-sex desire. “I [didn’t] want to lose time by portraying patriarchy, didn’t want to lose time to fake conflicts between people who don’t have much time, didn’t want to lose time about reproducing this convention of an impossible love story,” Sciamma explains. Haenel appreciates that the film doesn’t perpetuate the idea that women in this era had few options and small lives. “It’s also a way to say, ‘You cannot ask for more because before it was worse,’” she explains. “It says ... that society keeps getting better for everyone, which is not true.”