Elusive 2008-07-08
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
As an artist, I'm often frustrated by the way artists are romanticized in movies. Few films actually manage to get it right. This isn't one of them.
That's not to say it is lacking in charm. The movie is full of beautiful scenery. In fact, if the whole story were edited out, it would be a better film. There are lush tropical forests, waterfalls, beaches...and part of the film takes place in France, rendered with equal style.
The plot features the early life of Gauguin up to the point where he decides to sail for Tahiti, interspersed with scenes that happen after he gets there in a complex, rather annoying format that disrupts continuity possibly to make a point about the differences between Tahiti and France.
The scenery is beautiful, the costumes are beautiful. The film is a treat for the eyes.
The supporting cast are all fine. The problem is Kiefer Sutherland and Nastassja Kinski, who play Gauguin and his wife. Neither of them are particularly good actors, but in this film they seem to be competing in some kind of duel to see who can be the worst actor of all. It's strange to watch a movie in which the supporting actors consistently outshine the two leads by so much. But that gives you an idea of just how bad Sutherland and Kinski are.
Sutherland's performance is alternately flippant, maudlin, hilariously overwrought, and curiously flat. It is clear that he doesn't understand the character he is playing. He also sports the worst mullet ever seen on a human being. It's painful to behold!
Nastassja Kinski sulks, nags, and occasionally bursts into histrionic temper tantrums. I found myself longing to reach through the screen and slap her.
The facts of Gauguin's life are ignored if they don't fit the filmmaker's romantic pretentions. He's made to seem a romantic figure who found success following his dream; the film doesn't bother to point out that Gauguin's greatest works were painted by a half-blind, diseased wretch lying in a hammock because he was too sick to stand. Or that he was about to die of syphilis. It perpetrates a false view of artists - that REAL artists have no material concerns, leave their wives and children to starve, and don't care about anything but painting the perfect picture. No wonder nobody likes us!
This is the kind of movie you wouldn't mind watching on an airplane. But it's not worth much more than that. Unless bad movies are your guilty pleasure.
If you want a good movie about Gauguin, try to find a copy of "Wolf at the Door" featuring Kiefer's father, Donald Sutherland. Donald has an amazing talent that his son has not managed to inherit. It's not on DVD for some reason, but you can find copies of it on VHS.
