Beauty can't save the world from an epidemic, but it can brighten the anxious anticipation of news. Ten films about prominent artists and female artists will introduce you not only to their works, but also to the turbulent biographies and historical events of the eras in which they lived.
We’ve put together a great selection of films for you. These movies will definitely help you take your mind off the news and immerse yourself in a world of beauty.
Pollock
USA, biographical drama, 2000
Do you remember the paintings that look more like a painter's apron smeared with paint? Their author is American abstractionist Jackson Pollock. When actor Ed Harris was a child, his father bought him a book about Jackson Pollock simply because he thought the boy looked a lot like the artist. Harris was so fascinated by the works of Pollock that his first directorial work dedicated to him, and even starred in the title role. The tape tells about Pollock's work, his relationship with his wife - the artist Lee Krasner, romances with other women and problems with alcohol, which later lead to tragedy ...
Actress Marcia Gay Harden won an Academy Award in 2001 for her role as Lee Krasner.
Rating: IMDb 7.0, MoviePoisk 7.1
Camille Claudel
France, biographical drama, 1988
The young Camille Claudel (Isabelle Adjani) impresses the famous sculptor Auguste Rodin (Gerard Depardieu). The latter hires her as his assistant and the pair become lovers. Soon Claudel begins to create her own works and realizes that she would like to step out of Rodin's shadow. Suffering from the constant cheating of her lover and from creative competition, Camille gradually begins to go mad.
The real Camille Claudel spent 30 years of her life in a mental hospital. Her family effectively abandoned her. During this time, Camille was visited only a few times by her brother, while neither her mother nor her sisters visited her even once.
Rating: IMDb 7.3, CinemaPoix 7.5
Van Gogh. Love, Vincent
UK, Poland, USA, biographical drama, 2017
A team of more than 120 artists from around the world worked on this unique project — an animated film, where frames with live actors were painted with oil paints in the style of paintings of the hero of the tape — Vincent Van Gogh. They created more than 62,450 frames with oil paints. The movie tells about the life and mysterious death of the Dutch genius. The script was based on about 800 letters that Vincent wrote to friends and family at different times.
12 Ukrainian artists also took part in the work on the film.
Rating: IMDb 7.8, Kinopoisk 8.2
Basquiat
USA, biographical drama, 1996
Julian Schnabel's biopic tells about the life of world-famous New York street artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, his perception of his own fame, his struggle with drugs, his relationship with artist Andy Warhol and art dealer Bruno Bischofberger, as well as his death from a heroin overdose at the age of 27. The main roles in the film were played by Jeffrey Wright, Benicio Del Toro, Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, Willem Defoe and David Bowie.
The owners of Basquiat's works refused to allow Schnabel to use his works in the film. Therefore, the director had to create his own reproductions of paintings for his film.
Rating: IMDb 6.9, FilmPoisk 7.2
Modigliani
UK, biographical drama, 2004
Biographical film follows the life of Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani (Andy Garcia) and his relationship and rivalry with Pablo Picasso (Omid Djalili) when both were living in Paris in 1919.
Modigliani, an Italian Jew from Livorno, falls in love with Jeanne, a young French Catholic woman. A baby girl is born to the couple, but Jeanne's fanatical father sends the child to a convent where she is to be made a true Catholic. Modigliani tries to earn money to bring his daughter home.
Part of the action takes place in the Rotonde Café in Paris, whose regulars included Picasso, Diego Rivera, Jean Cocteau and others.
Rating: IMDb 7.4 FilmPoisk 7.9
Andrei Rublev
USSR, historical drama, 1966
Andrei Tarkovsky's film tells about the life of Andrei Rublev, a Russian icon painter of the early 15th century. The movie is divided into separate novellas, little connected with each other and covering the period from 1400 to 1424. From them, as from a mosaic, a picture of life in medieval Russia is formed.
In 2012, British magazine "Sight & Sound" polled about 850 film critics who ranked "Andrei Rublev" as the 13th best film in cinematic history.
Rating: IMDb 8.2, MoviePoisk 8.2
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Great Britain, Luxembourg, historical melodrama, 2003.
Peter Webber's movie tells about one episode in the life of Dutch painter of the XVII century Jan Vermeer, when the artist was working on one of his masterpieces — the painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring".
Not much is known about the girl in the painting. It is assumed that she was a maid who lived in the house of the artist. The tape attempts to recreate the events of her life. Griet (Scarlett Johansson) works as a maid in the house of Vermeer (Colin Firth). Van Ruyven, a wealthy patron of the artist, commissions him to paint a portrait of Griet, whom the patron is about to take as his mistress.
Kate Hudson and Kirsten Dunst were originally considered for the role of Grit, while the role of Vermeer could be played by Rafe Fiennes.
Rating: IMDb 6.9, CinemaPoix 7.2
Big Eyes
USA, Canada, biographical drama, 2014
This story takes place in the late 1950s in the United States. Artist Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) packs her bags, gets in the car with her daughter and leaves her husband to start a new life in San Francisco. There, Margaret meets an old friend, Diana (Krysten Ritter), and falls in love with Walter (Christoph Waltz), who soon takes an interest in her paintings of young children with huge, expressive, saucer-like eyes. Walter begins selling these works, passing them off as his own.
The director of the film Tim Burton has a large collection of paintings by Margaret Keane. The artist also painted a portrait of his former partner — Helena Bonham Carter and his dog breed Chihuahua.
Rating: IMDb 7, CinemaPoix 7.1.
Renoir. Last Love
France, biographical drama, 2012
The actions of the picture take place in 1915 on the French Riviera. Painter Auguste Renoir learns that his son Jean is wounded at the front. The artist is in despair, but he is helped by creativity. He draws inspiration from the young red-haired model André. Soon his son returns from the front and falls in love with this girl.
The movie is based on a biographical book by Jacques Renoir, great-grandson of the great Impressionist, who was a famous photographer and cinematographer.
Rating: IMDb 6.5, Kinopoisk 6.5
William Turner
UK, France, Germany, biographical drama, 2014
British director Mike Leigh's film chronicles the final phase of the life of William Turner, an English marine painter. After the death of his father, Turner travels, paints, visits brothels, has an affair and sets sail on a ship where he ties himself to the mast during a storm to be able to capture the sea element as realistically as possible.
Turner's performance as Timothy Spall won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Rating: IMDb 6.8, Kinopoisk 6.8.
If you don't like it, we've got plenty of other options!
