Release Date (UK) – 27 November 2009
Certificate (UK) – PG
Country – France
Director – Martin Provost
Runtime – 126 mins
Starring – Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur
Séraphine is a French biopic of relatively unknown artist Séraphine Louis, set in early 19th Century France. Séraphine was a lowly house cleaner who declared that she was instructed by God and the angels to paint, and worked to the bone cleaning during the day whilst painting away at night. Her great talent was discovered by respected art critic and dealer William Uhde, but fame was denied to her; first by the war as the German Uhde had to flee France and then when he found her again years later the Wall Street crash and recession meant that there was no real art market. Séraphine’s disappointment caused her unstable mental health to deteriorate and she died in an asylum in 1942, her talents going unheard of.
Séraphine is played by Yolande Moreau who you may recognise as the concierge in Amelie Moreau gives a wonderful performance, conveying a range of emotions from joy to depression and psychosis, in addition to perfect comic timing. The film won several awards at French film festivals this year, and it’s not hard to see why with this outstanding performance. Ulrich Tukur, who is starring in another current release The White Ribbon, is William Uhde and he too gives a great performance particularly in the comical scenes with Séraphine, as he tries to persuade her to stop mopping his floor and to concentrate solely on her artistic talent.
The film tells a fascinating story and is thoroughly captivating but the cinematography is a massive let down. It is very badly lit, not simply dark just in scenes of Séraphine’s depression but throughout the whole film it is often difficult to make out who and what is going on. In addtion, fades out to black at the end of scenes are repeatedly used to a ridiculous extent. The pace is also very slow; long scenes of Séraphine painting may cause fidgeting audiences and the end is very drawn out as you are repeatedly tricked into thinking that this may be the final scene. Apart from this though, Séraphine is a poignant story, full of arty references and jokes for the art fan, and with a touching emotional storyline.
Séraphine did not achieve the fame that several other artists Uhde discovered did, such as Rousseau, but this film has promoted a small revival of interest in her work including recent exhibitions of her paintings in Paris, and hopefully will lead to more international recognition of her talents and place in the history of the Naive painting style.
