The True Story of Tamara de Lempicka & The Art of Survival

This film, plain and simple, makes Tamara come alive again. I've only known about her for a short time like most people, but I have known her work my whole life. It is singular, with the shadow, color, and perspective of a master. The same can be said of this documentary. Julie Rubio puts Tamara's work on the front line, letting it be the star of the show, as Tamara would have wanted it. Yes of course it's important to see the woman behind the canvas and all she had been through, but Tamara didn't care about all that. She wanted her art to speak for itself, and it has for almost 100 years.

Tamara's story is harrowing, and many different people can draw inspiration from her trials and tribulations. As a queer person, I was so excited to learn about someone new to look up to, who made it through just like those who are marginalized dream of doing. She did it with style, grit, talent, and brilliance.

I loved the interviews with her family and tying in the short lived but much loved Broadway production about Tamara's life.

In short, Julie hit the nail on the head and all I want to do is have a glass of champagne, a board of French cheese, and turn on this film for cozy yet informative night in, Brava!

This is an exquisite documentary celebrating a beautiful, talented, trailblazer who refused to mold herself to the constraints of the world. It takes you on a fascinating journey introducing you to the woman, the artist, the lover, everything she was. The home footage of her life is absolutely incredible, with amazing input from members of her family and professionals very familiar with her work. It's a gorgeous story, and celebrates this woman who should be much more widely known. After seeing the documentary all I could think of was, her story deserves to be told! It's a very timely piece to watch, as so much of what Tamara struggled with is being experienced again now. It combines her personal story, along with the universal plight of women especially queer women to find their strength and their power. I eft the theatre inspired, moved and anyone else who sees it will feel the same.

I truly enjoyed this film, and I wanted to thank the group from the bottom of my heart. The cinematography is powerful and captures every moment with such sensitivity, while the storytelling is delicate yet deeply moving. The casting is wonderful, with participants whose eyes reflect genuine love and respect for the heroine, adding such authenticity to the narrative. The paintings featured in the film beautifully illustrate the journey of her life, bringing the story to life in a vivid, heartfelt way. I sincerely hope that many people will have the chance to see this film, as it deserves to be experienced and felt by as many viewers as possible. Thank you for creating something so beautiful and meaningful.

If you love art, love history, enjoy a beautifully crafted, insightful documentary, this film, "The True Story of Tamara de Lempicka & The Art of Survival", is for you! If you are curious about what it was like to be exiled, be bisexual, and be a renegade in the 1920's and 30's, this film is for you!

I've seen it four times now, and learn something new things every time. What is so clear from this film is director/producer/writer Julie Rubio's love, passion, and intrinsic interest in her subject, Tamara de Lempicka. Her dedication to the truth, to uncovering Tamara's long-hidden beginnings, paid off and we, the audience benefit. We learn her origins and begin to understand some of why she lived the way she did, guarded but also with abandon. Intentionally, out loud, and with a keen sense of past and future.

This film is also full of fascinating perspectives from people who come to her from different places and experiences. Her granddaughter Victoria, who knew her as her grandmother but also through tales from her own mother, Tamara's only daughter Kizette. Her great-grand daughters Marisa and Cristina, keepers of her estate and legacy, who experienced her as very young girls and understood how she expressed love differently than most, and shared some of this through very rare old home movies. Eden Espinosa, the actor whose exquisite embodiment of Tamara in the Broadway show "Lempicka" earned her a Tony nomination. As a student of Tamara's life and art, Eden has some really wonderful perspectives to add to the narrative of this insightful film. Carson Kreitzer, who wrote the book for "Lempicka" the musical, spent years immersing herself in all things Tamara, learning about both the artist, and the woman. How she moved through the world as someone who escaped from Russia to Paris, only to have to run again as fascism rose in Europe. How she navigated life as a queer women during a time when it was incredibly dangerous to live and love openly, and Carson's knowledge of Tamara adds so much. Matt Gould, who wrote the music for the Broadway show, and as a Jewish gay man, helps connects the dots between Tamara's time and our time. Her experiences and our own. And renowned experts from the art world like Paula Birnbaum and Roland Weinstein, share their appreciation for Tamara's gorgeous work, helping us see it for its intrinsic beauty, its technical skill, its unflinching style, and understand what it brought to the Art Deco movement. After all, Tamara had been called the Queen of Art Deco!

All of these different perspectives and voices come together to shape a rich tale of Tamara's world, a tale that is more vibrant, more intimate because they are a part of this film. Julie assembled the perfect group of people to tell this tale, and create a narrative that helps us understand this elusive woman and her history. And maybe all of this helps us understand her incredible art a little better too.

See this film!

Visually I thought the film was great, but the comments from an ensemble of ancestors, art directors, and others were mixed. I really enjoyed the perceptive observations of Furio Rinaldi from the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, and Roxana Velasquez, from the San Diego Museum of Art, but I thought there were too many interviews with people associated with the Tamara de Lempicka musical. I didn't find their observations, often delivered with great passion, very insightful.

I have to say, I didn't leave the theater with a much clearer idea of de Lempicka than I had before I entered it. I would have liked more detail on the last 35 years of her life, i.e., since 1945. I understand there was a certain decline in interest in her and, interestingly, a move away from the figurative style that had made her legendary in the pre-war period. I would have liked to have known more about how this affected her, and what she thought about her move to Hollywood. I could have done with more autobiographical detail and less coverage of the prices bidders pay for de Lempicka's pieces in the current art market, which I have little interest in.

Despite these reservations, I would strongly recommend the movie. Tamara de Lempicka was such a great artist, one of the most important of the 20th century, and her pre-war work grasped the zeitgeist perfectly. She was an extraordinary person too, with a life that was deeply involved in many of the themes and cities that drove the 20th century. It is not the film-maker's fault that she remained an enigma at the end of the movie.