Seraphine (PG)
- Starring: Ulrich Tukur, Yolande Moreau, Francoise Lebrun, Serge Larivière, Anne Benoît, Geneviève Mnich, Nico Rogner, Corentin Lobet
- Director: Martin Provost
- Duration: 130 mins
- Year: 2009
The film centres on the life of French post- modernist painter Seraphine de Senlis. Born in the mid-19th century, she worked as a shepherd, a housewife and a painter before finally going mad.
Reviews
Alison Rowat's Review
Writer-director Martin Provost’s biopic of the French painter Seraphine de Senlis is a conventional portrait of an unconventional artist, but no less moving and revealing for that.
Yolande Moreau gives a remarkable performance as the maid from the town of Senlis whose artistic talents were discovered by German critic and dealer Wilhelm Uhde (Ulrich Tukur, The Lives of Others). At first fearing Uhde is mocking her, Seraphine is reluctant to believe that she is gifted.
Sales of her paintings prove otherwise, and at last she can pursue her ideas without worrying where the next franc is coming from. Fame, however, brings its own pressures on one so emotionally fragile.
Funny, charming, at times desperately sad, Provost’s picture was the deserved winner of seven Cesars, including best film and best actress for Moreau.