Andy Garcia has always been a risk taker, playing bad guys, good guys, rats, heroes and unafraid to jump into a role that is well in the margin. Here, we find him as the enigmatic Amadeo Modigliani, the self-destructive brilliant and troubled artist of the Lost Generation hanging out in Paris after WW1. Too, the wonderful and beautiful Elsa Zylberstein favors us with a wonderful performance, departing from her usual French films. The Persian actor Omid Djalili is wonderfully arrogant and petty as Picasso, as are all of the primarily European cast.
Shown with all their warts and moles are the great painters, Picasso, Rivera, Matisse, Utrillo and the redoubtable Gertrude Stein, poet and literary critic, and Jean Cocteau, the film maker. It was an exciting era that produced some of the 20th century's greatest art and this film gives us an artistic glimpse into that world of troubled and mad world of creative individuals absolutely refusing to compromise their individuality. Of particular interest is the scene where Picasso takes Modigliani to see Renoir, the great impressionist, who has retired crippled and aging to a country villa. As they approach the room where the old man sits in a wheel chair, Picasso says, "Come and meet God." While a serious art historian might quibble with some liberties with the recorded facts, e.g., Picasso is shown with a grudgingly mutual respect more so than the chroniclers of that time report, the film does capture that cyclone of creative genius that abounded in post-war Paris at that time.
Shown with all their warts and moles are the great painters, Picasso, Rivera, Matisse, Utrillo and the redoubtable Gertrude Stein, poet and literary critic, and Jean Cocteau, the film maker. It was an exciting era that produced some of the 20th century's greatest art and this film gives us an artistic glimpse into that world of troubled and mad world of creative individuals absolutely refusing to compromise their individuality. Of particular interest is the scene where Picasso takes Modigliani to see Renoir, the great impressionist, who has retired crippled and aging to a country villa. As they approach the room where the old man sits in a wheel chair, Picasso says, "Come and meet God." While a serious art historian might quibble with some liberties with the recorded facts, e.g., Picasso is shown with a grudgingly mutual respect more so than the chroniclers of that time report, the film does capture that cyclone of creative genius that abounded in post-war Paris at that time.