Luàna Bajrami makes a supporting character's place in a group feel worth watching. We value the quiet determination she brings to the screen, particularly in Portrait of a Lady on Fire, where companionship matters alongside desire.
Fi1m perspective
In Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), Luàna Bajrami's Sophie helps give the women a life together beyond the central courtship. She makes their company feel valuable without asking the film to stop and announce the importance of friendship. Céline Sciamma gives her room to do that, and Bajrami makes good use of it. We were moved by the women helping one another, because Sophie makes the little freedom they share feel worth protecting. For an actor in a supporting part, that is a substantial contribution.
Her feature debut, School's Out (2018), gave her a less companionable place in a group as Apolline, the ringleader of gifted students. That role fits a recurring use of Bajrami as a young woman who can suggest menace without raising her voice. Sophie brought wider attention; Hélène in Audrey Diwan's Happening (2021) was another supporting part. Stories about young women seeking greater freedom recur, but Sciamma's film gives us the strongest reason to care about how Bajrami inhabits them.
She moved into directing with The Hill Where Lionesses Roar (2021), also appearing as Lena, and followed it with Notre monde (2024). We would not treat the acting merely as preparation for that change. Sophie needs an actor alert to how much a supporting character can contribute without becoming the centre of the story. Bajrami gives the companionship enough weight that it never feels like something to occupy the time between scenes of courtship.
Sciamma's restraint can feel over-managed, and Bajrami does not somehow free Portrait of a Lady on Fire from that control. Nor does she need to: the tenderness of the women's friendship is enough to justify the attention given to it. We rate her here for making that friendship matter without making a fuss about it. Start with Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and watch Sophie as closely as the lovers.
Biography
Luàna Bajrami (born 14 March 2001) is a French-Kosovar actress. She is known for her role as Sophie in Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019).
Bajrami has appeared in School's Out (2018) as Apolline, Happening (2021) as Hélène, Final Cut (2022) as Johanna and A Difficult Year (2023) as Antilope. She made her directorial debut with The Hill Where Lionesses Roar (2021).
