One of the most inspiring artists for both the audience and other makers or artworks has to be Vincent van Gogh, a subject of anecdotes so well-known, that one can hear them with about the same probability in an art museum café as in the corner-table of a neighbourhood pub or on the intercity bus. With his severed ear and one sold painting, Van Gogh has also been mystified beyond all common sense. One telling example that says something about the recasting of the genius myth is the fact that the great visionary has been depicted with comparable extravagance in the entertainment series Doctor Who as well as in Julian Schnabel’s visually exuberant film.
Maurice Pialat sees and does differently. Pialat dismantles the myth and the clichés, peels the patina off Van Gogh and gives reality to the artist’s environments, his landscape, the real Vincent who eats, lives, breathes. The long duration of the film is also easy to forget by surrendering to the embrace of the images and the French countryside. (Niilo Rantala)
Language: French, subtitles: English
