LOVING VINCENT: ART AS ART

A vast number of people would love you to believe that movies are nothing more than an art form. They push aside the fact that movies are a business, one that employs millions of people around the world, that brings in tremendous amounts of money or that there is little art to be found in movies focused on explosions and bare breasts. But to some extent they’re correct. Movies can indeed be an art form. Not as often as they’d like you to believe though. So when a movie does indeed become artistic that’s to be applauded. And when that artistic expression is about art it makes it more magical.

LOVING VINCET is a labor of love. It is an animated film unlike any other. Why? Because none of the images were painted by cartoon artists but by actual oil painters, over 125 classical painters from 12 countries to be precise. Together they painted 65,000 frames to tell this story. Director Dorota Kobiela has stated “The basis for my idea was to tell my story through his paintings…It was always fascinating for me to think about the characters from his paintings telling his story.”

That story involves the last days of artist Vincent van Gogh as discovered by young Armand Roulin, the son of Postman Joseph Roulin. Joseph had a letter posted by Vincent and addressed to his brother, Theo, but the letter has continued to be returned. He entrusts the delivery of this letter to Theo to his reluctant son who feels it is a waste of his time. Armand heads for the address on the letter, the last known address for Theo. There he discovers that Theo also died but that he might want to take the letter to a Dr. Gachet in Auvers-sur-Oise.

As his journey to deliver the letter progresses Armand begins to learn more about the man through the people he meets on his journey. Each of them provides him with clues as to the makeup of the man, what drove him, as well as their own theories about what happened to him in those final days. Some theorize that he committed suicide. Others that he was killed by one person or another. And some feel that the gunshot that took his life was nothing more than an accident.

When Armand arrives at the town he is directed to the home of a Dr. Gachet, a close confidant and friend of Vincent. The doctor is away but Armand meets his housekeeper and see his daughter playing piano. He gets acquainted with the daughter of the local innkeeper who is away and hears her version of what happened. All of it is bits and pieces of fact and fiction, items seen and others gossiped about. But each one provides him with more information.

As the days pass Armand begins to come to his own conclusion of what happened. His view changes with each new revelation. But before he turns the letter over to the last person deserving of it, he will come to a conclusion that puts all of the pieces he’s learned into a plausible answer.

The story itself here is a good one keeping you entertained and curious throughout. Was van Gogh killed or was it simply a mishap? Could he trust those around him or were they just taking advantage of him? Unappreciated at the time of his death he has since been hailed as one of the most influential artists of all time. Could those around him have seen this genius before others could or did they just think of him as mad?

This story could have been told in a book. But film is a visual art. And the visual aspect of this film is amazing. Not only have they created an animated feature length film but every single image on screen has been painted to appear as if van Gogh painted them himself. Characters are based upon a number of his own paintings, bringing them to life to tell the story. It’s as if the oils on canvases have come alive just to do so. Not an easy feat for anyone but this group of artists has accomplished the task.

The film has been nominated for best animated feature film for this year’s Oscars. The other titles in competition are all the standard computer generated images we’ve come to expect and a single cell animated entry. While all are quite well done it would be nice to see something like this win the award. It’s special, magical and has the chance to use one art form to discuss another.

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