Review of Séraphine (2008) by Ola S — 27 Jun 2009

You have probably seen just too many artist movies, dealing with the period around 1900. So this is another one, but there is a difference here. It takes the dirt, the struggles and powerty seriously, without any romanticizing. Not for better and not for worse. And you can certainly smell it.

Séraphine de Senlis was a middle-aged woman with psychic problems who earned money from day to day by cleaning and laundry. Many woman lived under these conditions during that age, but Séraphine was a genius in the so called naivistic art. What's so naive about it can be discussed, but anyway this German art collector Wilhelm Uhde finds her, like he found Picasso and Braque. She gets recognized and a little wealthy until depression comes. And Uhde isn't there for her.

Yolande Moreau is fantastic as Séraphine. Watch this.