The Real Arthouse Cinema: Movies for Art Lovers

Cinema – it’s familiar and beloved form of expression to many interested in visual art. After all, both are visual mediums, and many of the same principles and creativity that can be seen in traditional art are utilized in film making. The art world is also a popular subject for moviemakers. After all, artists, from the old masters to the contemporary legends, are so often intriguing and unique individuals, and their stories, and that of their works, have been adapted to film for decades.

Both art and cinema continue to enthrall, entertain and inspire – here, we will explore a short selection of movies about art or artists that art lovers will especially enjoy. These aren’t necessarily the best films ever made, but they some that most faithfully portray the heart of artistic process, the lives of artists, or the value of their craft.

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Based on the novel of the same name by Tracy Chevalier, is stunning film that tells the story of a fictional teenage girl, Griet (Scarlett Johansson), living in 17th century Holland. She becomes a maid in the house of Johannas Vermeer, an artist we now consider one of the greatest of the Dutch Masters. Griet, a quiet working class girl, contends with Vermeer’s bratty children, temperamental wife, and their unfamiliar middle class Catholic lifestyle in her job. Soon, however, she strikes up a strange relationship with the reclusive, mysterious artist. Ultimately and inadvertently, Griet becomes the model for one of the world’s most recognizable paintings – Girl with a Pearl Earring (1665).

Girl with the Pearl Earring is a beautifully shot film. The colors, angles and lighting of many scenes, especially those in the Vermeer house, directly reference the atmosphere of artist’s paintings – warm, mysterious, and luminous. Similarly, the costumes and sets are tasteful and visually interesting, taking you right into the heart of old Delft and the dramatic Vermeer household. The whole cast puts in a stellar performance, especially Johansson and Firth as Griet and Vermeer, who have a intense chemistry despite the relatively few lines exchanged by their characters. Johansson plays the curious, reserved Griet to perfection, and her full lipped, wide eyed gaze is a stunning similar to that of the real model, whose identity is not known. A exquisite and haunting score by Alexandre Desplat brings everything together magnificently.

Why Art Lovers Will Enjoy It – While not based on objective fact, it gives you an interesting view at what Vermeer’s process may have really been like, with his camera obscura and under-painting style typical of artists at the time (note the studio space looks exactly like the setting of many of his works). While there is plenty of made up drama, this movie has a richness to it that is a true testament to Vermeer’s life’s work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46E3xUTR6A0

The Woman in Gold

In contrast, The Woman in Gold is based on a true story – that of Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren). In it, Altmann sues the Austrian government with the help of a young lawyer (Ryan Reynolds), to get back a painting taken from her family by the Nazis, from whom she had to flee from to America in the 1930s with her husband. The painting is not just any, it is Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt – one of the most famous pieces of artwork in the world, the subject of which is Altmann’s aunt. Altmann and the lawyer, Randy Schoenberg, travel back to Austria to search for grounds for the case – which ends up going all the way to the Supreme Court.

This inspiring film wins the most points for its story – an unconventional underdog tale, but especially touching due to the fact that you know it’s based on reality. Its most successful part is its alternation between the main action – depicting Schoenberg and Altmann’s legal work on the case – and flashbacks showing Altmann’s life in Vienna in the 1920s and 30s, and her subsequent escape. These flashbacks are powerful, poignant and rich period pieces, complete with beautiful costumes and sets, and a certain chase sequence where the young couple are fleeing from the Nazis is particularly heart pounding. Helen Mirren plays current day Maria with poise and just the right emotion – she is truly the heart of this film.

government to create an Army unit to guide troops in saving priceless works of art that are in danger in war zones. Stokes puts together a team of older men, curators and art historians (Bill Murray and Matt Damon, among a number of others), to do the job. They go all around Europe, facing mortal danger in many cases, to rescue countless priceless and legendary works.

Why Art Lovers Will Enjoy It – Art lovers look no further, this is truly a film for those of us who know the value and culture in artistic works. The tale of the little known “Monuments Men” unit sorely deserved to be told, for without them, who knows how many of Western art’s masterpieces would have been casualties of war? This is a inspiring war film showing how the determined actions of a few can have a huge impact, and how preserving art is preserving a culture.

Frida

A biopic of one of the most famous Mexican artists of all time. The film follows its title character (played by Salma Hayek) from her time as a young adult, through the terrible bus accident that left her bedridden for months and her discovery of painting. It continues by depicting her marriage(s) to the famous and well established muralist and scoundrel, Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina), their tumultuous relationship, through to Kahlo’s health decline and death in 1954. Both Kahlo’s personal life and artistic career are portrayed, in all their drama and surrealism, as well as Kahlo and Diego’s political activities – such as their harboring of the exiled Leon Trotsky.

This colorful, dramatic and poignant film paints a robust portrait of the artist, who is portrayed as headstrong, principled and temperamental. Salma Hayek’s performance captures all sides of legendary painter, especially through all the pain, both physical and emotional, that she endured in her life. Other successes include the film’s many unique supporting characters – Antonio Banderas, Edward Norton and Geoffrey Rush are all intriguing in their roles as artist David Alfaro Siqueiros, Nelson Rockerfeller, and Leon Trotsky, respectively, despite the relatively little screen time allotted to them. Another success is the curious, surreal quasi animated portions, bringing to life some of Kahlo’s works and travels. Finally, the film deserves applause for not skimping on portraying the tumultuous Mexican political scene during the 1920s onward – both Rivera and Kahlo were fervent communists and their involvement is thankfully not under-examined.

Why Art Lovers Will Enjoy It – Frida Kahlo is an intriguing and groundbreaking artist, and woman, in history; anyone looking at her creative, surreal works cannot help but be intrigued by stunning and strange symbolism within them. This film shows a dramatized version of the artists life, and will help anyone interested in her art to gain a better understanding of her choices of subjects and the emotion she poured into her work. Her life story is intriguing – and this film portrays it in a sensitive, visually stunning fashion that will entertain both devout Kahlo fans and average moviegoers.

Words by Nana Gongadze.