Review of Van Gogh (1969) by Constant D — 06 Mar 2010

Biographical movie based in the last two months of life of Vincent Van Gogh.

This is a film that can be called fairly grand cinema. All of it has been beautifully photographed catching the bright sun light of France.

Most of the scenes have been thought as a paintings of the same period, every single frame is a piece of art: the river scenes remind you of Monet, the brothels of Toulouse-Lautrec, the everyday routines of Degas, the agricultural moments of Millet and the cafe scenes of Renoir. In this sense the film is global, it is about Van Goght's life and about late XIX century painting. So, if you love art, you are going to love this movie. If you like action you might get disappointed. It is a french film after all, so expect lots of talking and eating, and in this case lots of dancing and singing as well.

The movie is brilliantly directed and acted, besides the costumes and the atmosphere of the homes, the household goods, the furniture are simply fantastic, the whole of it has been thoroghly researched and feels real and truthful.

A word of warning, if you like Van Gogh you might want to stay clear of this picture. Towards the end you might reach the conclusion that he was not the kindest person ever, he was a drunk, a craddle snatcher, a rake, a rude person and, in short, a bit of an a*****e. This adjective is also extendable to the other male characters, including Theo and dr. Gatchet. Females get partially excused because they mostly suffer the consequences of the mistakes of the men. In that sense the movie depicts a very grim picture of family life at the time.

To me, the weak part of the movie was the information gaps, V. Gogh's illness goes practically unnoticed and it does not explain why he kills himself, the suicide scene is not shown and some characters are introduced whitout explanation of who they are like Katye and her male friend. But, on the whole, this is a very accomplished piece of cinema and a gem for art lovers.