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Portrait of a Lady on Fire is coming to Hulu tonight at 12 a.m. PT / 3 a.m. ET, several months earlier than expected, to the delight of fans of great cinema and great yearning everywhere. Neon, the independent studio behind both Portrait of a Lady on Fire and the Best Picture winner Parasite, announced the surprise news in a tweet on Thursday afternoon. The studio also revealed the film will be on VOD in “April,” but did not specify a date.
Neon studio has an overall deal with Hulu that gets the streaming service exclusive streaming rights to its films, but most previous Neon films—including I, Tonya, Three Identical Strangers, The Beach Bum, and Honeyland—hit Hulu six months after their theatrical release. Portrait of a Lady on Fire was released in France in September 2019, but only opened wide in the United States this February, making this Hulu debut about five months early. Parasite, so far, is still set to hit Hulu on its scheduled April 8 date next month.
This is, of course, great news for anyone who wants to distract themselves from the pandemic with some grade-A yearning via this gut-wrenching period romance from writer/director Céline Sciamma. Starring Noémie Merlant as a French painter in 18th century France, and Adèle Haenel as her beautiful subject she’s hired to paint but instead falls in love with, it’s beautiful, tragic, and oh-so-romantic.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is not yet available on DVD or digital, so, until today, if you missed out on this incredible film in theaters, there was no way to watch it, considering most movie theaters across the country have shut down. In addition to heading to VOD in April, the film is also coming on DVD and Blu-Ray to the Criterion Collection‘s library on June 23, and will include a “new conversation between director Céline Sciamma and film critic Dana Stevens, new interviews with actors Adèle Haenel and Noémie Merlant, an interview with cinematographer Claire Mathon from the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, an interview from 2019 with artist Hélène Delmaire on creating the paintings for the film, along with behind-the-scenes footage.”
