Thursday Movie Picks: Movies About Painters


Hello and welcome back to Thursday Movie Picks, the weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves where you share three movies to fit the theme of the week each Thursday.

We are back to normal aka movies, and this week's picks have to be about painters which made me realise there aren't a lot of movies about painters. Or maybe there are but I don't know them. Anyway, as much as I'd love to pick a movie about Van Gogh, there isn't one, so I decided to go with three painters married with fellow-painters. 


Frida (2002)

As you can guess from the title, this film tells the story of Frida Kahlo, a famous Mexican painter as well as an interesting woman who channeled the pain of an injury and her tormented marriage with another painter into her work. Saw this one a while back, but I remember it was a quite beautiful biography, visually stunning and featured a great performance from Selma Hayek. The use of the English language instead of Spanish really bothered me though.

Big Eyes (2014)

It tells the story of Margaret Keane, a painter who had a phenomenal success in the 1950s but had legal difficulties with her husband because he took credit for her works. Although I wasn't expecting much from it, Tim Burton surprised me with this bittersweet comedy-drama that perhaps focuses too much on the husband, but still flows well and entertains. Also Amy Adams is fantastic in it. And Christoph Waltz is over the top, but at least he brings humour into the film.


The Danish Girl (2015)

It tells the story of Einar Wegener, a Danish painter who becomes obsessed with the idea of becoming a woman after his wife painted him as a lady. This was a major disappointment last year. It had so much to offer, but it just didn't engage me. It was cold and detached. But the performance from Alicia Vikander was fantastic. Can't say the same about Redmayne, he basically did Stephen Hawkins again. 

18 comments :

  1. This week's theme was the worst for me because I've heard all about these movies, including the three you chose, and yet, I've seen none of them. And I can't recommend those I haven't seen, it just feels wrong. And I think I will never watch Danish Girl, I just can't stand Redmayne..can't stand him AT ALL!

    Big Eyes doesn't really pull me in either but I've always considered watching Frida just never gotten to it.

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  2. Sonia, this is my first time participating. I picked two of yours today. I just watched Frida this week and Big Eyes I haven't seen. You'll find my contribution in today's post at the bottom. I'm not sure how active I will be in this hop but I thought I'd give it a try because I am an avid movie viewer. Have a good day!

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    1. Hi Cathy, it's always nice to see new people joining. I hope you'll stick with it :)

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  3. The only one I've seen is The Danish Girl, which like you I wasn't thrilled with. It was just okay.

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  4. First there are 2 films i know about van Gogh that you can find out and watch...Lust For Life starring Kirk Douglas as van Gogh and Anthony Quinn as Gauguin (he won an Oscar for that role). The other is Vincent & Theo which i have not seen but want to. OK so I still have to see all these films. I want to see Frida because it sounds so good. I also want to see Big Eyes, not because I love her art (I actually hate those stupid big eyes) but love to seethe story. The Danish Girl I will see but I hesitate because it stars Eddie Redmayne whom I can't stand really

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    1. Thank you so much! I wonder where I've been living for not knowing about those two films. I'll check them out as soon as possible.

      If I were you I'd avoid The Danish Girl. The film wasn't that good and considering that you can't stand Redmayne, I'm afraid the film is going to be unbearable.

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  5. Honestly haven't seen any of your picks. Frida, after a quick look through the other choices, seems a very popular pick. Not a massive fan of Redmayne either. Didn't much of The Theory of Everything.

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    1. I liked The Theory of Everything and at the time I thought Redmayne was good in it. Now I'm starting to think that's his trademark and he's not that good of an actor after all.

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  6. Frida is a fantastic movie. The version I saw was mostly in Spanish except for the parts involving Americans. Still need to see the other two.

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    1. I absolutely need to see that version then.

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  7. I've only seen Frida which I appreciated more than liked but Salma Hayek really gave it everything she had and was extraordinary.

    The Danish Girl is on my list but you're less than overwhelming response to it pushes it back further. I doubt I'll ever watch Big Eyes, I can't stand Amy Adams.

    I had some difficulty in coming up with my three this week too. I just couldn't think of any that I really loved but I liked these three.

    The Naked Maja (1958)-Tale of the renowned painter Francisco Goya (Anthony Franciosa) and his passionate affair with the Duchess of Alba (Ava Gardner) , purportedly the model for the title painting. Set against Spain’s war with France and the Inquisition, though shot in Italy, the film is a visual treat with a good performance by Gardner but missing a certain spark, perhaps due to the fact that the stars detested each other behind the scenes.

    Lust for Life (1956)-Biography of Vincent Van Gogh with an intense, driven performance by near lookalike Kirk Douglas as the tortured artist. Since he wasn’t acknowledged until after his death the film is a relentlessly grim look at the cost and weight of unrecognized genius. Overlong but loaded with works by the master.

    The Moon and Sixpence (1942)-Inspired by the life of Paul Gauguin and based on the Somerset Maugham novel, the film tells the story of Charles Strickland (George Sanders) who throws his staid life as a married stockbroker away to run away to the South Seas to paint with nary a thought to the consequences. Well-acted with a superior cast but the lead character is an almost completely despicable person so it’s difficult to care too much for his story or fate.

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    1. I'm sorry to hear you can't stand Amy Adams. I didn't even know there was such people. Anyway, I'm definitely going to watch Lust for Life. I don't know how it's even possible I didn't know about its existence.

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  8. Oh we have a movie in common: Big Eyes! Surprisingly, the other two films are Oscar-darlings, true? I watched The Danish Girl, but not Frida. But, I think Oscars have the penchant to love films about painter.

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  9. Almost picked Big Eyes too - surprise from Burton I agree. Adams was excellent and the story was brilliant even if the art was terrible (in my opinion). Love Frida. I really didn't like The Danish Girl as it was massively historically inaccurate. But Alicia Vikander was good. I liked the theme within a theme too :)

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    1. It looks like everyone hates those big eyed paintings.

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