Film Review: Painting emotional picture of artist Van Gogh’s fractured mind

Willem Dafoe plays Vincent Van Gogh. (Supplied)

• The movie follows the Dutch artist’s battle with his mental health as he struggles to sell his works or art while living in the rural French town of Arles
• Probably the best aspect of the film – now screening at the artsy Cinema Akil, in Dubai – is the direction and cinematography

DUBAI: American director Julian Schnabel’s latest film “At Eternity’s Gate,” gives a unique insight into the fractured mind of painter Vincent Van Gogh during the final years of his life.
The movie follows the Dutch artist’s battle with his mental health as he struggles to sell his works or art while living in the rural French town of Arles.
Willem Dafoe superbly portrays the post-impressionist painter’s broken character as he gradually loses his grip on reality. The actor’s Oscar nomination for the role was clearly well-deserved.
The ever-charismatic Oscar Isaac co-stars as French artist Paul Gauguin, his customary carefree bravado providing the perfect foil and comic relief for the dramatic Dafoe.
Probably the best aspect of the film – now screening at the artsy Cinema Akil, in Dubai – is the direction and cinematography. Apart from the stunning landscapes and wide shots, Schnabel’s unconventional filming methods cleverly take the viewer on a trip into Van Gogh’s mind.
Using a hand-held, shaky camera technique to illustrate the instability of the artist’s mental state, Schnabel forces viewers to both wince at and empathize with Van Gogh.
As his journey moves forward, the screen noticeably splits into a clear top and a blurry unfocused bottom, as if the camera lens cracked midway through filming, the effect giving a disturbing insight into Van Gogh’s confused and diminishing outlook on life.
The movie title itself is the main theme of the film, as his paintings capture scenes and keep them alive for eternity. Van Gogh – as if knowing his fate – begins to reflect upon his life and mortality after struggling to get the appreciation his work deserves. Some critics of the day even described his paintings as “unpleasant.”
Beautifully shot, directed and acted, Van Gogh’s struggle with his mental health and the outside world can be summed up through the intense, emotional monologues that are sprinkled throughout the movie. One line stands out: “There’s something inside me, I don’t know what it is. What I see nobody else sees…I wanted so much to share what I see. Now I just think about my relationship to eternity.”