Seraphine, a new in USA 2008 French film by Martin Provost, explores the brief moment in the spotlight and the long, troubled life of "naive" artist Seraphine Louis (1862-1942), known as Seraphine de Senlis.
Seraphine lived and worked in the northern French town of Senlis as a housekeeper. She was devout and uneducated. Her materials were largely self-made. Her paintings struck a chord with a visiting German art dealer and collector who lived in Paris and championed her work. See the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpK_qugNHCM
The film covers the period from 1914 to 1942, a time of great artistic, political and economic change.
The prewar scenes with the German character in a French town call to mind how a world civilization existed in 1914 only to be shattered by the atavistic impulses of imperialism and statism, not just on the German side but also by the French.
The art world knows her as Seraphine of Louis, a name which recalls that of another uneducated French woman who became a visionary–Joan of Arc.
Yolande Moreau as Seraphine and Ulrich Tukur as the German art critic, collector and dealer who changed her life deserve acclaim for their performances, which should not be missed.
Martin Provost achieved the feat of making art dramatic, albeit with recourse to the drama of the lives of those who created it. It is commendable that the Wilhelm Uhde character is not despised as being in commerce but given recognition of his own.
I saw Seraphine at one of Long Island’s best institutions, the Cinema Arts Centre in beautiful Huntington, which unfortunately accepts stolen taxpayer funding. Separate culture and state. www.CinemaArtsCentre.org
This is a beautiful film that deserves a wider audience than it is likely to receive as a film about a dead painter in French. Do not let those features stop you from seeing it when it comes out on DVD. -30-
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