Review: Seraphine (2009) ****
Yolande Moreau as Séraphine
Séraphine Louis, AKA Séraphine de Senlis was an uneducated washerwoman and housekeeper who was guided by voices to paint. Scorned by those around her, her vibrant, abstracted and dreamily expressive florals were discovered by Avant-garde art critic and collector Wilhelm Uhde when she was hired to clean his residence in 1913. Encouraged and pushed by Uhde, she achieved a brief moment of fame before world war, the Depression and growing madness cut her career short.
This raw material is ripe for a typical feel-good Hollywood telling of an underdog’s rise and fall and rise again story, but actor turned director Martin Provost has something altogether deeper and more contemplative in mind. His film is a rumination on the creative urge, the nature of success and how the two sometimes conflict. Séraphine transcends its overworked genre to become one of the best movies of the year.
Provost’s secret weapon is Belgian comedienne/actress Yolande Moreau (Amélie, When the Sea Rises, Paris je t’aime) as Séraphine. She speaks little, but communicates volumes through expressions and body language. She also manages to avoid turning her “simple” character into a cartoon or a stereotype. Through the first large segment of the film, she’s a bit of a mystery as Séraphine carries on through a typical day, trudging silently and stolidly about the village cleaning homes and washing clothes and attending church. In between she treks through field and forest, collecting flowers, moss from a creek and wax from church candles. At night when she returns home to her tiny quarters, she finally comes to life and her obsessive behavior begins to take on meaning. The items she’s collected are used as pigment and raw materials for her paintings as she pours herself into her work with the dedication of a mystic.
Using his cast to best advantage, director Provost further enriches his story by allowing his characters to be flawed human beings. Séraphine is not a saint and neither is Uhde, the man who discovers her. She becomes difficult when she experiences the first blush of success and his motives and treatment of her are not always pure. They’re both obsessed in a way, her with her painting and he with the discovery and manipulation of genius.
Accented by Michael (In the Mood for Love) Galasso’s haunting score and Laurent (The Grocer’s Son) Brunet’s cinematography, Séraphine unfolds slowly and to its own unique rhythms. It’s frustrating at times because Provost is content to examine without coming to concrete conclusions. His characters remain enigmatic, but in the end this makes for a stronger, more thoughtful film. Rather than simply telling a life story, the film probes human nature. Like Everlasting Moments from earlier this year, Séraphine is especially interested in the uniquely human urge to create regardless of class, circumstance or even training. Though ultimately a sad story, in achieving a kind of universality it’s also one that is strangely inspiring.
Séraphine. Belgium/France 2008 (US release 2009). Directed by Martin Provost. Screenplay by Martin Provost and Marc Abdelnour. Cinematography by Laurent Brunet. Music score composed by Michael Galasso. Edited by Ludo Troch. Starring Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur, Anne Bennent and Genevieve Mnich. 2 hours 1 minute. Not rated by the MPAA. 4 stars (out of 5)
Filed under: Reviews
Tags: Anne Bennent, Genevieve Mnich, Laurent Brunet, Ludo Troch, Marc Abdelnour, Martin Provost, Michael Galasso, Seraphine, Ulrich Tukur, Yolande Moreau
That’s a beautiful review. It sounds like the film really reached you at something other than a superficial level. I’m particularly intrigued by films about the creative process, anyway. Always have been. This one seems to be an especially nuanced and sophisticated look at that process and urge to create, but one that’s told through simple images and performances rather than pretension, no?
At any rate, your recommendation has shot this one up onto my Future Films to Anticipate with Hope list.
I went in with skepticism…it’s a biography fraught with the potential for artificial uplift etc…but it surprised me in the best way.
I hope you get a chance to see it and it works for you.
I do recall you singing this film’s praises some time ago, Craig. That definitely stuck in my mind.
Gorgeous review BTW.
Well, it turns out we are getting the French film festival again this summer. It’s the third annual. So I guess our local arthouse chain (God love em) is taking it seriously.
I’m thrilled.
Not only do I possess a serious adoration of French cinema, but they do have (despite a wide variety of auteurs and splendidly talented filmmakers over the last century) a particular sensibility that just emanates from their art. The Gallic elegance and sophistication that these motion pictures so often embrace is perfect for our languorous dreamy summer.
The fest appears to be getting longer, too. Takes up most of the warmer sunshiny months and ends in September. It won’t be at my favourite ofd movie palace this time. It’s going to be held at the other big single screen (it’s been showing films there since the 50s) on the west side of town.
No matter. I’ve developed quite an affection for that cavernous barn over time. Nice yuppy neighbourhood. Even though the cinema is actually in a strip mall with an upscale grocery/deli and a bowling alley.
Yeah, make no mistake. We live dangerously up here. .
Fest kicks off savagely with SUMMER HOURS on June 19. SERAPHINE is the next offering on July 3.
I’m decidedly on the fence about both at this point.
SERAPHINE’S trailer was very intriguing. The representations of her work were breathtaking. It did look like it could be something special.
I’ll likely make up my mind when they get closer to their respective engagements here.
Thanks, sugar plum…
Well, Summer Hours is simply my favorite movie of the year so I hope you like it.
And your review will be in my subconscious as I trudge over to the Angelika Film Center TONIGHT to see this winner of numerous French Caesar awards. I’ve even convinced Lucille to go with me on this rainy day in the NYC area. If it is possible I will also see the Buddhist documentary UNMISTAKEN CHILD at the Film Forum, which like the Angelika, is on Houston Street a few blocks apart. on this same evening, as I have a play, MARY STUART for tomorrow.
SUMMER HOURS could well be my own favorite film of the year too, as it competes with UP, OF TIME AND THE CITY, TOKYO SONATA, EVERLASTING MOMENTS and STAR TREK for the top spot.
Very sensory and enthusiastic review that promotes the film with vigour. I am most interested in hearing Michael Galasso’s score and seeing what is sure to be lovely cinematography by Lauren Brunet on THE GROCER’S SON, a film I did see.
My favorite passage of your review is this:
“Rather than simply telling a life story, the film probes human nature. Like Everlasting Moments from earlier this year, Séraphine is especially interested in the uniquely human urge to create regardless of class, circumstance or even training.”
Nice! What is about this film that reminds of CAMILLE CLAUDEL? Well, I guess that’s fairly obvious.
You can’t go wrong with either Seraphine or Unmistaken Child, Sam…in my opinion anyway. A review of the latter is hopefully forthcoming.
I look forward to your review, Craig.
We have firmed up the double-feature. 7:15 for SERAPHINE and 10:00 for UNMISTAKEN CHILD. The filmmakers of the second film are there for a Q and A, but we can make that show, with the schedule we have. Two films is enough though, without needed a Q and A! LOL!
Like Summer Hours, Séraphine is a film I could easily have overlooked without your eloquent yet gentle persuasion to check it out. Based on your review Séraphine seems like a film that is hard to review because what makes it work is more purely experiential and as a result not always easy to characterize. When such films work they’re deeply satisfying. From the photos I recognize Yolanda Moreau as an actress that gave a fine character turn in The Last Mistress.
I like it because it defeats expectations of a biography and Moreau was great. I’m not the fan of Last Mistress that others around here are, but she was a bright spot.