Neon’s Oscar winner and another forgotten gem hit Hulu

Since its inception in 2017, film distributor Neon has become a powerhouse for independent cinema, culminating with its Best Picture victory earlier this year for Bong Joon-ho’s masterpiece, “Parasite.”

Thanks to an exclusive partnership, a majority of Neon’s films stream on the Hulu subscription service after their theatrical runs. Last week, “Parasite” made its debut on Hulu, but another recent Neon title available on the service deserves equal attention and acclaim.

The French-language period drama, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” directed by Celine Sciamma, collected numerous critics awards and landed on dozens of top 10 lists late last year (it made my Top 20 for the article published in the Press in January). The movie had a wider theatrical release in February before COVID-19 shuttered theaters, and Neon brought the film to Hulu late last month.

With Neon’s Oscar campaign focused largely on “Parasite,” “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” didn’t get the push it deserved, particularly in the case of its stunning cinematography. Countries can also only choose one film to compete in the Academy’s “Best International Feature” category, and France opted to push “Les Miserables” instead, which eventually secured a nomination (that film, by the way, was recently made available on Amazon Prime).

Steered by Sciamma’s rich screenplay and detail-focused direction, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is a powerful showcase for its two stars - Noemie Merlant and Adele Haenel. Set at the end of the 18th century, Merlant plays a painter named Marianne, who is tasked with traveling to an isolated island in order to paint the portrait of a young woman who has been set into an arranged marriage. The woman, Heloise, does not want to be married and refuses to pose for the portrait. Heloise’s mother asks Marianne to instead serve as her daughter’s walking companion so she may study her face and paint the portrait from memory.

Patience is required for “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” as the film takes a cautious approach with how the Marianne-Heloise relationship evolves. The way the camera lingers on small visual details and individual images has a magnetic resonance, and some stylistic choices even resemble visual language that’s more commonly seen in a gothic thriller. Sciamma plays with that expectation in order to enhance the characterization of Heloise, a woman who is essentially haunted by the decisions of others she cannot control.

The film also hinges one of its core thematic ideas on the ancient myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, which gets retold in the film at a key moment. It sets up a superbly compelling final act, anchored by the two stunning central performances by Merlant and Haenel. The final sequence of the film, thanks to Scianna’s brilliant set-up earlier in the story, became a frequently-cited “Scene of the Year” candidate on many critics’ lists last year. It’s a stunner of an ending that challenges and rewards attentive viewers.

Though “Parasite” and “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” rank as the best Neon offerings on Hulu, several other worthwhile recent titles live there, including the sorta-monster movie/relationship drama, “Colossal” starring Anne Hathaway, the Oscar-nominated documentary, “Honeyland,” the underrated drama, “Luce” with Octavia Spencer, British musical drama, “Wild Rose,” the incredible historical doc, “Apollo 11,” and the Tonya Harding-focused “I, Tonya,” which netted star Margot Robbie an Oscar nomination (Allison Janney also won an Oscar for her supporting performance in the film).

More excellent Neon titles: “Three Identical Strangers,” “Revenge,” “Border,” “Ingrid Goes West,” “Borg vs. McEnroe.” The list goes on. Neon distributes good movies.

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Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com. He’s been writing professionally about movies since 2000 and is the co-host of Old Millennials Remember Movies, available everywhere you get podcasts and at OldMillennialsRemember.com.