Truth through the eyes of genius Unfortunately, often geniuses during life remain misunderstood, from which, although their lives are far from the limit of dreams, but their dedication and unwavering work in art eventually open their way to eternity, which puts everything in its place and bestows on artists the only thing that can perhaps be considered most important than the life given to everyone, namely, memory, thanks to which personalities like the great Vincent Van Gogh, still breathing in our world through his paintings, continue to live.
"Van Gogh." On the Threshold of Eternity" is a new film by the director, and concurrently an art critic, not deprived of a talent for sensitive production, Julian Schnabel ("The Spacesuit and the Butterfly"), who set himself a very interesting task - to tell not just a story about one of the greatest painters of the 19th century, but to try to understand and visually show how masterpieces are created, what the creator feels and how they come to his head. And as befits Impressionism, in the style of which Van Gogh wrote his works, Schnabel’s painting is incredibly fleeting in its lively, natural beauty of everything around, not noticed by the masses, but visible to singles, outcasts not like ordinary people, finding beauty in ordinary small things, representing nothing to others.
It is no secret that Vincent Van Gogh led a hermit lifestyle, all his life he was alone, he had no friends except his brother Theo van Gogh and artist Paul Gauguin, his paintings were not popular, rather were hated by the generation under which he lived. And all this the director very subtly and carefully tries to study and interpret in his work, conveying with long beautiful plans the place of a lonely artist in the world who finds peace only alone with a canvas and colors that allow him not only to create, but also to feel life in himself. Not so much to create for the living and not only for yourself, but to create a truly beautiful legacy that conveys your own, in something insane, vision of this world.
Viewing “On the Threshold of Eternity” is very similar to a trip to a museum dedicated exclusively to the exhibition of Van Gogh. Despite the fact that the artist wrote his works more than a hundred years ago, during which the world managed to transform and change beyond recognition, compared to the 19th century, something still remained unchanged. As if there were not all these years, as if Van Gogh did not go anywhere, as well as the town of Arles, looking at the beauty of the nature of which a bit crazy artist painted his landscapes, and from the inhabitants – painted portraits. The town seems to still live the spirit of impressionism, with the enthusiasm of Vincent Van Gogh flying in the air, which has become one of the central figures in the narrative and the shooting place.
And Arles is as beautiful as on Van Gogh's canvases. Since Schnabel wanted to show the creator’s path to painting from the very beginning to the end, he devoted the lion’s share of timekeeping to the walks of Vincent, who sees the world in his own way, through whose eyes the operator Benoit Belomm (“Stephen Hawking’s Universe”) and tried to show us the world using a number of technical techniques. Firstly, the surrounding nature is often shown to the viewer in the first person, and it looks not only unusual, from a completely strange angle, but also with Van Gogh’s inherent color palette, with his favorite yellow color prevailing, playing in contrast with blue – this is another of the painter’s favorite colors. Secondly, through the style of shooting used, coupled with some editing techniques, like superimposing frames on each other, showing the artist's slowly dying mind. The director, together with the operator, involves the viewer not just in the narrative, making him a witness of events, but tries to make the viewer one of the active participants in the events.
Undoubtedly, this is a great merit of the director, but do not forget about the man who brilliantly embodied the image of Vincent van Gogh on the screen – Willem Dafoe, whose eyes reflect the very eternity that became a refuge for the artist from an angry and unjust world. Willem Defoe is an incredibly talented actor who knows his business. His Van Gogh is not just the main decoration of the film, from which it is impossible to look away, thanks to whose acting the picture of Schnabel and has a crazy emotional attachment to the hero and to the world of the tape, but Willem Dafoe can safely be considered the best screen embodiment of the great artist, of which there were not few and there will be even more, but whether in the future there will be someone who will be able to eclipse the image created by Dafoe with his play is a very good question.
And the main advantage of the film is the focus on Van Gogh. In the picture, there are literally a couple of scenes in which the character of Willem Defoe is absent, which is definitely the greatest advantage of the tape. For example, the animated painting “Van Gogh”. With love, Vincent, despite the titanicly complex and painstaking technical side, suffered greatly in terms of the script precisely because of the artist’s lack of narrative. Schnabel moves the plot precisely through the eyes of the painter, written on the basis of personal diaries, letters and legends about Van Gogh, of which there are plenty in Arles.
Of course, “On the Threshold of Eternity” is a biopic, but this film will not quite correctly be called biographical, since the director did not have any goals to create a true story. “On the Threshold of Eternity” tries to show the reverse side of the canvas, Schnabel was more interested not in the brush in the hands of the artist, but in whose hands it is in, with all the experiences and emotional anguish of the creator, which the picture definitely turned out. The film captures not only Van Gogh’s detachment from society, but even his closeness to the world. In addition, the atmosphere of despair, misunderstanding and resentment from injustice permeating the whole body is transmitted very naturally, with attention to inconceivable details.
Since the director was able to correctly assemble all the technical capabilities available to him, coupled with an excellent actor and, albeit straightforward, but having the right to exist script, Schnabel was able to make the viewer feel what Van Gogh is experiencing on the screen. It is impossible not to experience genuine delight and pleasure from the meditative scenes in which Van Gogh paints his paintings, enjoying every moment of the frame, and at the same time it is very difficult not to feel resentment in the back of your soul when everyone around says that the picture praised by the misunderstood creator is ugly garbage.
"Van Gogh." On the threshold of eternity is not just a beautiful film with the magnificent Willem Dafoe, but a full-fledged excursion into the world of painting in the era of impressionism. After viewing the picture, although there is an unpleasant feeling of emptiness on the soul, but at the same time, faith in something beautiful is born, hitherto not noticed by the viewer, but, obviously, surrounding everyone.
Is it true that all painters are crazy?
- "Only the good ones"
8 out of 10