Review of Van Gogh (1969) by Martin T — 04 Jan 2010
An account of the last two months of Van Gogh's life. I love his work, but I don't know much about the man. I'm sure most of this film is fictionalized, but I found it didn't matter to me.
It steers clear of all the usual biopic trappings, and thankfully isn't another portrait of an artist as a deranged lunatic. There are some histrionics, and these tend to be the weakest moments of the movie, but fortunately it only happens a couple of times.
Instead, Pialat manages to capture the complexity of his character in light, subtle strokes. The word that kept coming to mind was "naturalistic": the pacing, mood, scenarios, lighting and performances.
Jacques Dutronc is superb in the lead, and the rest of the cast is splendid as well. Everything just seemed flow naturally, without blatantly steering the narrative towards its foregone conclusion. I really enjoyed it.
Between this and L'Enfance Nue, Pialat has made up for the dismal A Nos Amours.
This review of Van Gogh (1969) was written by Martin T on 04 Jan 2010.
Van Gogh has generally received very positive reviews.
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