At Eternity’s Gate
I love watching Van Gogh films; Loving Vincent, Lust for Life, The Yellow House, The Life of Vincent. Van Gogh is the archetype for the suffering artist and the more you learn about him, the more incredible his work becomes. Best known for the exorbitant sums his works command now, he couldn’t sell his work while he was alive.
“At Eternity’s Gate” is directed by Julian Schnabel, a gifted artist in his own right, and stars the brilliant Willem Dafoe. It delves into the mental state of Vincent, his struggles. It examines perception and how Van Gogh perceived the work differently than most. At the time, people couldn’t perceive his work as art, and he felt it could help convey the beauty of the world as he sees it.
Much of the film examines how he sees and feels things. And it uses blurring and colour along with voice overs of previous conversations to help put us into Vincent’s state of mind.
“When I paint, I stop thinking. I stop thinking, and I feel that I am apart of everything outside and inside of me.”
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Girl with a Pearl Earring is a fictional story that imagines the origin behind one of the most loved Vermeer paintings. Starring Colin Firth Scarlett Johansson and Tom Wilkinson it is the story of a young girl, Greit, who get’s employed as a domestic in Vermeer’s house.
She develops a relationship with the painter and when Vermeer’s wealthy patron wants her for himself Vermeer agrees to paint a portrait of her instead. Vermeer’s jealous wife, and Greit’s relationship with a butcher’s son complicate matters.
What is appealing for me about this movie is the mixing of paint. The movie shows the preparation of paint, which before paint came in tubes, an artist would need to know. For many years I mixed my own pigments and made my own paint with a muller. It is a very laborious process and makes the painting that much richer for me.
As a side note, if you haven’t seen Tim’s Vermeer I highly recommend it. Basically this rich guy wants to paint his own Vermeer which is as good as anything the artist did.
Frida
This film was nominated for six Academy Awards, and was a labour of love for Selma Hayek. Hayek put such a stamp on this role, that it’s difficult to imagine anyone else portraying Frida. It is the story revolves around Frida Kahlo and her tumultuous relationship with with Diego Rivera, Alfred Molina.
Diego was a mural painter, whose large wall-sized paintings graced many of America’s biggest corporations’ lobbies. In contrast, due to an injury in her youth, Frida is confined to painting small intimate pictures. The film explores some of the symbolism in the paintings and how the events of her life are woven into the artwork. It’s a wonderful film about a passionate, larger-than-life artist.
“I’m not asking you to kiss me, nor apologize to me when I think you’re wrong. I won’t even ask you to hug me when I need it most. I don’t ask you to tell me how beautiful I am, even if it’s a lie, nor write me anything beautiful. I won’t even ask you to call me to tell me how your day went, nor tell me you miss me. I won’t ask you to thank me for everything I do for you, nor to care about me when my soul is down, and of course, I won’t ask you to support me in my decisions. I won’t even ask you to listen to me when I have a thousand stories to tell you. I won’t ask you to do anything, not even be by my side forever. Because if I have to ask you, I don’t want it anymore.”
Frida Kahlo to her husband
For me, this movie is a reminder of a wonderful afternoon I spent with my friend Karem. We went to see the Frida & Diego exhibit at the AGO and then went for some really good Mexican cuisine at Playa Cabana Hacienda in Toronto.