Modigliani (2004)

Crappy film

Am I Missing Something?

Absolutely the worst movie.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Modigliani (2004)Wow, somebody besides Modigliani was smoking hashish when making this thing. It's incoherent, it takes fictional liberties that border on infantile (never mind trying to create an interesting story), and the acting and writing (basics, yes?) are strained and patched together. Stephen Holden is right, this is a movie about how not to make a movie about a famous artist.Andy Garcia? I can see how people find him handsome, and Modigliani was a lady's man, for sure, so that much works. But he isn't an actor with either subtlety or fire, mostly just self-consciousness. His girlfriend, Jeanne, who was supposed to be 19 when the artist met her, is played with surprising unevenness by the usually talented Elsa Zylberstein, who was almost twice that age, 36. (She does have a naturally long face, which fits the elongated look of the artist's many portraits.) And then there is an even worse fit, the man playing the short fiery Spaniard named Picasso, an Iranian-British comedian name Omid Djalili. He neither looks nor acts like Picasso, who was filmed and photographed so much we know quite exactly what he was like.So what is it about this film that makes sense? Nothing. There is snow in one direction and not in the the other. There is the foolish brandishing of guns, glasses smashed to the floor, hallucinations that play cheap cinematic games, an invented rivalry between Picasso and Modigliani as if they were the only two artists of note in town (this is Paris, 1917, remember). Oh, and speaking of that, where's the war? You know, World War I. Ha.So, Modigliani impregnates this young Catholic student, Jeanne, and shows raging compassion and neglect in almost the same scene. He loves poverty and seems to never really paint--except when he gives up halfway through and destroys the thing in a fit. (This is only partly true--he drew and painted like mad, but not destructively.) The light is often nice, his T.B. is neatly invisible until the dramatic final bow, and Paris never looked so tawdry and small. It's a shame, because it could at least have been brimming with atmosphere. Or, taking it another direction, the movie could have leapt into complete fantasy like Derek Jarman's "Caravaggio" or the inventive (and more accurate) "Goya in Bordeaux."I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. Anyone, not with all the better artist films out there. As a final note, even if you like everything I didn't, you'll have to keep track of the many side characters (artists who come and go like Max Jacobs, Diego Rivera, and Utrillo), and the put up with a pastiched together simultaneous scene of several of these painters all making their works for the competition, feverishly painting as club music plays in the soundtrack as if it were a high school football tournament. Good luck. The death mask at the end? That's for real. And the final tragic suicide, as well. The truth of Modigliani is far more intense than this frivolous thing.

Andy Garcia gives an award winning performance as Italian Jewish artist, Amedeo Modigliani, in this film about his tragic life. He was madly in love with a French Catholic woman, Jeanne, whose father made it impossible for them to be together. Regardless, Jeanne would sacrifice custody of their own daughter in order to be with him. She just couldn't live without him. The supporting cast is quite good with Miriam Margolyes OBE playing Gertrude Stein (where was Alice B. Toklas?) in this film. The film was filmed on location in Paris. Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau and other famed artists of that period were also portrayed but my main problem with this film was the lack of clarity in this film. It's a worthy effort but it could have done a little better.

This movie was agreeable to the senses in almost every way. I am not hightly educated in the art history field. However, I found this drama to appeal to all my senses. From costume to scenery everything, from the average joes perspective, was fantastic. I found almost every scene I was absorbed into as if I were there. Only one scene/performance did I find slightly off & that was of the goat woman getting angry at Moodigliani in front of his peers. I was cheering, crying, & wanting to physically hurt some of those uncaring souls. Anyone, whether artistically educated or not, would respond to the deep human search of a gifted soul and his place in life. I am surprised that this movie is not on large award lists! It was obvious to me that Andy put his soul into this performance! I feel he reached a new realm in his acting career. Bravo!

I saw this movie last year and watched it again the other evening. I have studied art for many years and I applaud the detail and attention paid to each moment that reflected that period. Modigliani was, by all accounts, exactly as in the movie, charismatic, a drunk, a genius, a haunted individual. Picasso was, as in the movie, a genius, a misogynist, a jealous man and very charismatic. The performances of both Garcia and Zylberstein were truthful and painfully real. I have read the critics on this movie. I'm amazed at their lack of knowledge, one can only presume, they never bothered to research and just piggy-backed the last bad critic. One critic blasted the movie saying Picasso didn't know Modigliani, yet there are photographs taken by Jean Cocteau of them together, laughing with each other -- and Picasso helped carry the coffin of Modigliani! However, I believe the movie itself will not go away as some of these art snobs would wish, but in fact, I believe it will grow through time to become a classic. My advice to those in doubt, colored by what they read, study the individuals and the period and you will be amazed to discover that, for the most part, all that you see was sadly true. Kudos to all involved and my students of art agree.