Review of Surviving Picasso (1996) by Abel D — 22 Apr 2013

An ultimately dry film, James Ivory's biopic of Picasso's premiere mistress does have good performances, even if Hopkins never fully transforms into the legendary painter, some moments of humour, usually Picasso's comments & observations about others, and even some inventive flashback sequences that take on Picasso-esque aesthetics, but the script never really explores why these women are drawn to and stay with Picasso, despite his duplicitous nature, and furthermore, Picasso's art never gets much attention nor examination, missing a great opportunity for parallels and psychological exploration.