Review of Séraphine (2008) by Ching T — 29 Jun 2009

Absolutely brilliant movie depicting the descent of a simpleton washerwoman turned avant garde artiste turned mad woman in early 20th century France. This is an excellent example of why I love French films because of its slow deliberate thought provoking character developing pace.

It is like watching paint dry on the silver screen to reveal the luminous, bold, prolific and yet childlike qualities of both the character and artistic brilliance of Seraphine. Her obsessive compulsion begins somewhat benignly as we observe Seraphine poach kidney blood from an employer, candle wax from a nearby church, scour through muddy river beds and wild flower fields, etc.

to painstakingly create her own colors of affordable paints to allow her to finger paint onto small wood blocks during the night. But then, as she gains recognition, the size of her canvases and tight clusters of leaf/flower compositions grows to disproportionate sizes, so does her obsessive compulsion and madness.

This leads to one of the most poignant scenes in the film as we see "the image of a plump washerwoman-turned-art-world-sensation roaming the streets in a bridal gown, gripped by madness." Does fame and recognition change a person? Does it create expectations for wealth and success? Do those same expectations render the angelic voices in one's head to be louder? Do the expectations or the angelic voices cause one to lose oneself in one's art, thus paving the way to being committed to an asylum? No wonder this film won 7 Cesars.

I'll be sure to watch more films by this actress who portrayed Seraphine.