Van Gogh

If you haven't seen this movie yet, set aside a few hours and treat yourself to this gem of a film.

Jacques Dutronc is great as the Von Gogh, but Alexandra London is fantastic stealing almost every scene she is in with Dutronc. Bernard Le Coq as big brother, Theo, turns in a good controlled performance as well.

The supporting cast is also first rate.

The movie covers the last two months of Van Gogh's life from his arrival in Auvers sur Oise ( then a sleepy suburb 17 miles from Paris) until his death from apparently self-inflicted wounds. He is buried there by the way, next to his brother Theo, and the inn where he stayed is still standing. (Google "Auvers-Sur-Oise") The sad part is that Van Gogh appeared to suffered from a form of depression, if it were today it could have been treated with proper medication. If he had lived 110 years later he might have been fine.

I loved the research they appeared to do on everything from period trains, blacksmiths, inn keepers, farmers, day laborers, other artists and family members. It has an authentic feel to it.

Another good part is the lack of a sappy soundtrack to detract from the story at hand. The lack of a soundtrack renders it almost as if you are standing in the same town watching what is going on. "Excuse me, are you Vincent Van Gogh?" The picture is beautifully photographed and as one IMDb'er from France pointed out in his comments "some sequences along the river look like Renoirs's paintings" It's true.

Don't miss this.

This is a film about someone, but most decidedly not the painter Vincent Van Gogh. At the center of the story is the romance - which never happened - between Van Gogh, and Gachet's daughter Marguerite. There's no extant evidence that such an affair ever occurred, and if I can be frank, I was pretty horrified to think, as I watched this film, that it may have. She would have been around 15, and Van Gogh's callous disregard for her was, to put it lightly, alarming. In many other respects, a watchable film as it is quite handsomely produced, it unfortunately maligns the character of the man, and misleads with unnecessary prurience, calling all of the other 'facts' into question.

The strength of this film hinges on the plausibility of the account- if this is indeed an accurate portrayal of Van Gogh's last days then it at least has some innate value in that regard. Although the pain of V.G.'s suffering was excruciatingly heightened by the real-life pace, the film suffered overall from being too slow. I was left feeling depressed about Van Gogh and got the feeling that maybe some aspects of a person's life are better left undramatized. The character of "Van Gogh" ultimately comes across as a hopeless case--crazy, depressed, bitter, irresponsible and ill-tempered, hopelessly dependent on his brother and resentful to the point of suicide because of it. But is that the whole story? There must be more and this movie doesn't leave the viewer with the impression that any stones have been left unturned. Too much of this man's earlier life is unknown to us(assumed) and his actions and relationship with his brother, Theo have no real context for the viewer to truly sympathize or understand Van Gogh. And the relations he has with the love interests in the film are in many ways stilted and hard to believe. Van Gogh was a stormy, complex, singular type of human being whose story resists just this type of retelling. Nice try but I think this film missed.

This is Maurice Pialat's masterpiece, one of the best French films ever !

Unlike the title may induce, it's not a Van Gogh "classic" biography as Pialat only shows the last three months of the painter's life, from his arrival in Auvers sur Oise until his suicide.

The picture is constantly moving, intelligent, funny and masterfully photographed (some sequences along the river look like Renoirs's paintings). It's as much a movie about Pialat himself as about Van Gogh.

The scene between Vincent and his brother Theo , or the ones between the latter and her wife Jo are just extraordinary. And the way Pialat films Van Gogh's agony at the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers sur Oise is the mark of a genius.

Jacques Dutronc may not be a Vincent van Gogh lookalike, he's absolutely outstanding. And Bernard Le Coq as Theo makes his best performance so far.

Unmissable!!!!!!!!!!

I enjoyed this quite a bit, but it really is nothing more than a plausible romance between an older man and a young girl. Having read many books about VG and visited Auvers and the locations in the film I did enjoy revisiting on screen. The exterior shots of maison Gachet were real, but the interior here and in the Auberge were obviously in a studio. Still good, even if not quite realistically accurate. The fact that Margerite would have followed him to Paris and that Adeline would tend to him on his deathbed are all subplots undocumented elsewhere.

More could have been made of Hirshig (who lodged in the next room). And where were the Secretin brothers? It is obvious this writer sticks with the suicide narrative and shies away from the speculation of murder.

If I knew nothing about VG and had not interest in his life I would rate this lower.