23 September 2013

Maurice Pialet's Van Gogh Masters Of Cinema Blu-Ray Review


Rating:
15
BD/DVD Release Date:
23rd September 2013 (UK)
Distributor:
Eureka! Video
Director:
Maurice Pialat
Cast:
Jacques Dutronc, Alexandra London, Bernard Le Coq
Buy:
2-Disc DVD or Blu-ray

Maurice Pialat’s Van Gogh is one of the reasons why I love Masters of Cinema. I was sort of dreading to watch a 2 hour and 40 minute French film on the last 60s days of the life of the artist Vincent Van Gogh but it was one of the most captivating films I’ve seen in a while. Pialet had been obsessed with Van Gogh for a very long time; he made a documentary about him in the 1966.

The film takes a very unsensationalistic take on Van Gogh’s last 60 days of his life till his inevitable suicide. The film for example doesn’t mention the fact he cut his ear off and in fact shows Van Gogh with two ears. It also doesn’t really go much into his art. Van Gogh does paint in the film naturally and you see him hand his physician Paul Gachet his famous portrait, which also happens to have the world record for most expensive painting at public auction in history. It most concerns his relationships with his physician and his daughter and his art dealer brother Theo, who disliked his brother’s paintings.

Jacques Dutronc is cast as the title character. Dutronc was one of the biggest French “Chanson” singers of the 1960s. His music dabbled in garage rock and psychedelic rock. Dutronc began acting in the mid 1970s but it wasn’t till his role in Jean Luc-Godard’s Slow Motion people really took him seriously as a real dramatic actor. Dutronc won a César (the French equivalent to the Oscars or Baftas) for his performance and rightfully so. Dutronc inhabits the role with his gaunt performance that is a transformation to behold.

The film is a naturalistic take on quite an extraordinary life and was real pleasure for beginning to end. The blu-ray release characteristically of Masters of Cinema includes over 2 hours of interviews, over half an hour of deleted scenes and Pialet’s original 60s documentary on Van Gogh. It’s a highly recommended release which should be added to any cinema lover’s collection.

★★★★1/2

Ian Schultz

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