One of my favorite past times is watching art movies and foreign films. Recently I saw a wonderful movie, Seraphine, at the local art movie theatre, Chez Artiste. This movie has won 7 French Academy Awards (Cesars) including Best Picture and Best Actress. The movie received great reviews.
Yolande Moreau is remarkably skilled at playing the real-life Seraphine, a lowly housekeeper in the daytime and an avid artist at night. Her guardian angel inspired her to become a self-taught painter (naive art), and she made her own “secret” colors from various natural ingredients in the French Senlis countryside. Her various rituals in life: housecleaning, shuffling through the woods in search of paint ingredients, singing to the Virgin Mary while painting by candlelight late at night; all are craftly portrayed in this poignant film.
In 1912, Seraphine was discovered by Wilhelm Uhde, an art critic, dealer, and early collector of such famous artists as Picasso and Rousseau. The story is of their relationship as artist and her sometimes benefactor, both with trials and tribulations, both with an excessive love for their art. It is a touching story of an artist’s perseverance through the harshest of circumstances.
I thought the movie Seraphine was beautifully photographed. In keeping with the theme, the director used “no warm colors” except for the ‘colorful paintings’ by Seraphine; no special effects, just great camera angles. It was a sobering , yet extremely inspiring film. How can anyone truely creative have any excuses for being non-productive after seeing the intensity of this artist who had many problems.
Below are a few quotes from an interview of the director, Martin Provost.
There are often people who are not erudite, who were not born in favorable circumstances, or close to culture, but who carry within themselves this incredible creative capacity, irrepressible and disturbing at times. These artists are like deep-sea fishermen, far from artistic evolutions and turmoil, with no teachers or disciples, and they don’t always get the recognition they deserve.
He also emphasized that rituals were a way of disciplining one’s life.
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