Feb 13 2009
Art Films
One of my loves in film stems from my love of other arts. I tend to gravitate naturally to films about art, music, and theatre. Yet I often find my interest flattened if the film is about a writer–mainly because so many films are about writers. I know the adage says to “write what you know,” but I don’t want to watch a film about someone as boring as I. The only exception I’ve found to this is Shakespeare in Love, for two reasons: 1. It was funny, and 2. It had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Shakespeare’s life–at all. As such, I could suspend any sense that he was actually a writer and just enjoy the film as a film. Give me a film about an aspiring screenwriter, and I gag immediately–could a screenplay be anymore self-absorbed than that? Here, let me just write a play about a playwright–or a poem about a poet! GAG! BLECCCCHHH!
What I DO like watching, though, is films about music and art (and theatre). As a teenager, I remember going to see Amadeus, a film detailing Salieri’s view of Mozart, and remember being absolutely blown away, walking out of the theatre as if my legs were made of jelly. Magnificent film, I thought, the perfect blend of music and drama. I’ve seen the stage play since (and I prefer the film, with the changes Peter Shaffer made to it). My favorite parts remain places where the music reflected Mozart’s own personal struggles–with various loves, the struggles with his overbearing father, with his need for something magic when so much is going wrong–and his Requiem became the perfect backdrop for the ending of the film.
But this is not the only such film. I also loved the treatment of Beethoven (one of my personal favorite composers, since I was very young) in Immortal Beloved. A unique treatment of the composer’s life, intended to explain many strange things about the man. And the music, again, creates the main interest, shows the passion, tells the story as much as the plot line does.
Other films like The Agony and the Ecstasy and Lust for Life do the same for artists, in this case Michelangelo and Van Gogh, showing how much they fought with their talent and through their talent to make what they did come alive. Their stories, I find, make their art more apparent than it was to me before I watched the film. I find I appreciate the artwork for more as a result, even when I loved it already. A film on theatre that I loved–probably because when I saw it I was writing a full-length play about Othello’s wife Desdemona–is Stage Beauty. The Phantom of the Opera is also a personal favorite, for more reasons than I can count.
These are only a few. Do you have some favorites of your own?
I liked the ones you cited for Beethovan and Mozart. Beethovan was kind of a shrug to me, but the movie made me look at his music in a different light. I have always loved Mozart (particularly his opera), but I completely agree that the way they used his music in the film was inspired.
I’ve read The Agony and the Ecstasy but I haven’t seen it. Except for The Phantom of the Opera, I haven’t seen the others you mentioned.
Let me think. I don’t know that I’ve seen that many movies dealing with artists, but I never really thought about it before. I can think of films and books dealing with writers and I can’t remember them bothering me, per se. I do appreciate movies that make fun of some aspect of the film or TV industry (like Soap Dish), but I don’t think that’s what you meant.
I’m sure I’ve seen some, but nothing’s really leaping out at me. Perhaps that aspect of it just didn’t stike me the way it did you. But then, you are an artist and I’m, at best, just a writer.
yeah…uh… art films…. right
love the new banner… very pretty!
I have to disagree with your comment about writers and movies. These have been some of my favorites. I still laugh when I think of the opening scenes in Romancing the Stone where Kathleen Turner couldn’t find a tissue anywhere in the house because she’d been so wrapped up in writing she hadn’t gone shopping. And there isn’t a Miss Marple movie that I haven’t liked. Oh, and who can forget Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins in 84 Charing Croos?
On the other hand, I’ve often found movies about famous art, artists to be extremely boring. I’m probably in the minority, but I didn’t like Casanova, Shakespeare in Love, or the DaVinci Code.
Romancing the Stone was good because it REALLY made fun of the genre. What I detest most are movies about some starving writer who is trying to get a film deal or sell his book. BORING!
I can’t really claim to know whether a movie with period costumes is good–honestly, I love costumes, and my drool begins while my brain shuts off. Still, I wouldn’t suggest the DaVinci Code is a good film. It’s a good BOOK, and that makes a huge difference.
Then again, I also like films (and books) that blend religion into the mix.
Was Casanova an artist? I only caught the tail end of that film, and while I loved the costumes, what I saw of it didn’t impress me.
And, Stephanie, shame on you! This is not comparison time! And whatever artistic ability I have is wasted if I don’t actually use it… so I need to get painting!