LOVING VINCENT, A Masterpiece: Review By Polly Guerin

No other artist has attracted more legends and controversy over his death than Vincent van Gogh. Variously labelled a madman, a genius, even a layabout, the real Vincent is at once revealed in his letters, and obscured by myth and time. Vincent himself said in his last letter, 'We cannot speak other than by our paintings'. The film LOVING VINCENT takes Vincent at his word and lets the paintings tell the real story of Vincent van Gogh's life. 
      The film is an art lover's dream with storytelling charm that sheds new light on the great artist, so misunderstood, bullied and so under appreciated in his time. His genius was great but sadly he sold but one painting during his entire life. LOVING VINCENT can be enjoyed as a gigantic painting, bursting with colors, mesmerizing with its reproductions of familiar faces and places, but as remarkable as Vincent's brilliant paintings, is the portrayal of his passionate and ill-fated life, and mysterious death. 
      It was first shot as a live action film with actors, and then hand-painted over frame-by-frame in oils.  The final effect is an interaction of the performance of the actors playing Vincent's famous portraits and the performance of the painting animators, bringing those characters into the medium of paint.
     This is a first time in cinematic history that a movie has been created exclusively using handmade paintings in an animated feature film.   Every one of the 65,000 frames of the film is an oil-painting hand-painted by 125 professional oil painters who painted directly onto the rushes while trying to remain as faithful as possible to Van Gogh's technique and style.  The start and end of each shot is the exact copy of one of Van Gogh's works. A total of 94 paintings were fully reproduced, and 31 ere partially recreated.    

       The result is an example pure visual enchantment in which some of the world's most renowned paintings are animated, such as The Starry Night, Portrait of Dr. Cachet, Wheatfield with Crows, and The Night Cafe, pictured right. And we also meet again Doctor Gachet, and his daughter Marguerite Gachet. Then too, he painted many other famous faces that match the famous paintings they portray.  

Jospeh Roulin, Postman

The film begins in the summer of 1891, one year after Van Gogh's suicide. Armand Roulin, is asked by his father, the postman, Joseph Roulin, one of Van Gogh's favorite models,  to deliver a posthumous letter to Van Gogh's brother Theo. Armand, who becomes a central character in the film, is not pleased with the task as he never approved of his father's friendship with the artist. Yet he dutifully goes to Paris only to learn that Theo, devastated by the death of his brother, had only lived a few months after Vincent's suicide. He then travels to Auvers-sur-Oise to shed light on the mysterious circumstances surrounding Vincent's death.   Armand becomes central to the investigation, 'Was Vincent murdered,' and in so doing encounters Dr. Gachet and questions him about the real circumstances behind Vincent's death. Alas you will have to see the movie to find out.     

The Cafe Terrace Place de Forum, Arles

Breathing life into Van Gogh's painting was written and directed by young Polish director Dorota Kobiela and the British producer Hugh Welchman. produced by Poland's BreakThru Films & UK's Trademark films.  The duo animated a selection of oil paintings created in the style of the Dutch master to portray the final weeks of the painter's life in Auvers-sur-Oise in the Paris region, where he was staying at the time of his death in the south of France. The collaborators drew inspiration for the film from the wealth of letters Van Gogh exchanged with his family.  
      Find LOVING VINCENT at local movie theaters. The film introduces theater actor Robert Gulaczyk in his first film role as Vincent van Gogh, and Armand Roulin, central to the story, is played by Douglas Booth.  Sharing the spotlight Chris O'Dowd is the Postman, Joseph Roulin.
      Doctor Gachet is portrayed by Jerome Flynn and his daughter Marguerite Gachet is played by Saoirse Ronan; Helen McCrory plays Louise Chevelier, house-keeper to Doctor Gachet. Notable, too, is Aidan Turner is the Boatman from Vincent's Bank of the Oise-sur-Oise painting. Thanks to the magazine FRANCE-AMERIQUE for story details.

      Ta Ta Darlings! I loved this film, but I had a feeling of great sadness after viewing how Van Gogh was tormented by local bullies in Auvers-sur-Oise, and disrespected by local individuals, and then, too, did he really commit suicide or was he murdered?
     Fan mail always welcome please send your comments to pollytalknyc@gmail.com. Visit Polly's Blogs at www.pollytalk.com and click in the left hand column to the blog that resonates with your interest on visionary men, women determined to succeed, the fashion historian and poetry.