{"id":46097,"date":"2017-02-15T10:12:23","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T09:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/?p=46097"},"modified":"2017-02-15T10:12:23","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T09:12:23","slug":"final-portrait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/final-portrait\/","title":{"rendered":"The Film at Berlinale Celebrating the Inherent Mystery of Painting"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to capturing reality, a photograph is relatively easy. You point the camera and you click; thus capturing reality in a frame. When it comes to painting, as C\u00e9zanne<\/a> und Picasso<\/a> pondered over for their entire lifetimes, figuring out\u00a0what constitutes reality can be something of an endless question. Yet, this discontent with perfection is what spurs on some of the greatest artists \u2014 repeatedly reinventing themselves until they get it right\u2026 if they ever get it right. The film\u00a0Final Portrait\u00a0<\/i>sees how the great Alberto Giacometti <\/a>was never satisfied with what he had, in the process becoming one of the most celebrated painters of his era. Here’s why you have to watch it.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

What Do You Do When Everything Has Been Done?<\/h2>\n

\"Final From Final Portrait, 2017<\/p>\n

The film is set in\u00a01964 Paris, after the revolutions of Cubism, Dadaism and Abstract expressionism. It’s a time when artists were wondering how\u00a0to paint, as the history of impressionistic representation, from Turner to Pollock, had reached it’s natural endpoint. Giacometti, played by an incomparable Geoffrey Rush, seems to be at an impasse. His personal life is in a shambles, juggling his attention between wife and mistress, downing endless glasses of wine, and chain-smoking cigarettes instead of breathing. When James Lord (Armie Hammer) comes along, Giacometti decides to paint him. The resultant film<\/span>\u00a0works like a comic version of La Belle Noiseuse \u2014 <\/i>minus the extreme length and the sexual tension. <\/i>One person poses for a painting, another paints him, and together key lessons are learned about the relation of art to life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

“Fail Again, Fail Better”<\/h2>\n

\"Final From Final Portrait, 2017.<\/p>\n

With shades of Beckett (\u201cfail again, fail better\u201d) and more pauses than a Pinter play, Final Portrait <\/i>uses absurdism to its advantage; combining fatalism with French New Wave techniques to create a paean to the endless mysteries of creating the perfect\u00a0painting. Its comic repetitiousness is its strength, using the form of black comedy in order to express its theme of constant reevaluation of the same object over and over again. A telling scene is when Giacometti is in his little alcove, staring at the branches above him and thinking that today they look much different than they ever did. After all, it\u00a0is one\u2019s perspective that changes the world just as much as one’s surroundings. It shows any aspiring artist that there is never too many times to keep on considering the same thing. After all, how many apples did C\u00e9zanne paint? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The Cast Are Excellent<\/h2>\n

\"Final Final Portrait, 2017<\/p>\n

Arie Hammer nails playing the subject James Lord expertly, with a mixture of extreme curiosity natural to all writers, and frustration natural of all men who want to go home to the person they love. They are complimented by Clemenc\u00e9 Poesy as Giacommeti\u2019s turbulent mistress, Sylvie Testud as his embittered wife, and\u00a0Tony Shalhoub as his quiet and wise brother. Together they form an ensemble that play off one another in the spirit of Godard’s\u00a0Band \u00c1 Part,\u00a0<\/em>seemingly referenced in a driving scene scored to the French pop music of that era. To see such technique in a Hollywood film is a refreshing revelation.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

There Are No Easy Answers<\/h2>\n

\"Final Giacometti In His Studio. Courtesy of The Estate of Alberto Giacometti<\/p>\n

The best thing about the film is that it gives no one easy solution to the problem of making art, or why it is so hard to do it well. Instead, it is a celebration of the process, with all attendant extemporising, crossing out, reevaluating, swearing, complaining and temporarily giving up that it entails (this is reflected in the making of the film itself: Stanley Tucci took\u00a0ten years to get the necessary funding.) It shows that art is not so much about getting it right, but about getting it wrong: again and again and again. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The painting itself, which can be bought at Christies<\/a>, is now worth between $310,000 to $450,000.<\/em><\/p>\n

More <\/strong>Berlinale<\/strong> <\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Final Portrait, which saw its debut at the Berlinale, is a look at the iconic Italian-Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti. 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