After one of France’s top actors, Adèle Haenel, announced she was quitting a French film industry that she denounced for “complacency toward sexual aggressors,” Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Fremaux rejected her criticisms Monday.

This image released by Neon shows Nomie Merlant, left, and Adle Haenel in a scene from "Portrait of a Lady on Fire." (Neon via AP)“Do all lovers feel they’re inventing something?” asks Heloise, a young woman experiencing romantic passion for the first time. “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is a story of unexpected passion between two women. Female artists of the time, Sciamma has explained, produced work that hangs in museums around the world — and yet the outside world knows very little about them. When the mother leaves for an extended trip, the three women — Marianne, Heloise and maid Sophie — are left on their own, forming new and surprising bonds that transcend both convention and class.