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Plot

Jack Marcus (Clive Owen) is an honors English teacher for an elite high school who is also loud and arrogant and somewhat self-destructive as a high-functioning alcoholic which has made him a problem with the school's management and it looks like he might lose his job if things don't turn around quickly. He is obsessed with words, but ironically he hasn't written a word in six years. Being a published author initially got him his teaching position, yet now it looks like it is publish or perish. Meanwhile Dina Delsanto (Juliette Binoche), a well-known painter, becomes the new art teacher at Marcus's school. She is standoffish to everyone she meets because she is unpleased in how life has treated her. A medical condition known as rheumatoid arthritis has left her hands all but useless and this has made it extremely difficult to paint at all, let alone paint in the manner that she is used to. Overhearing how Delsanto believes words play second fiddle to pictures Marcus starts a competition to vastly prove that words have no equal.

Character Development

While Jack is trying to overcome internal struggles, Dina is overcoming the external ones. This conflict continues throughout the entire film as the battle ensues between words and pictures. This is a very detailed accounting that spans many degrees of emotions and travels over some very rich storytelling. There was a great deal of world building here with the development of this professional artist and her classroom of amateur artists and this dovetailed into the character quite nicely.

Acting

The cast did a brilliant job with the script. Everyone seemed to play their part well down to the smallest role. Valerie Tian who played Emily came off very credible in her role as a high school student and Bruce Davison who played Walt came across as an honestly warm friend that Jack could confide in. I believed that the players here could be mistaken for the genuine article if given half the chance. The production went that extra mile for that authenticity.

Overview

There are quite a few of unpleasant moments in this film so it is really not for the light of heart. I remembered a different spin of things when I recall the story from the trailer. That being said the performances were lovely and the production was grand with all the artwork. It moved about with a steady meter and only paused when it was needed. The story was interesting enough with the flare that this script should have been tried before; certainly the title seems familiar in its presentation. But I know a filmmaker would probably say that they include both words and pictures in their art form. Twenty-four pictures for every second of film projected on screen, yet they have to trim the words on the page for lack of time. Still the script here made an attempt to cut the difference down the middle. Well, mostly.