Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The Art of Love

Author(s): Pierre Davis
Location: Columbus, Ohio

“The Art of Love”

Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Directed by: Pedro Almodovar
Written by: Pedro Almodovar and Paul Haggis
Produced by: Paloma Picasso, Clint Eastwood and Stephan Spielberg
Score by: Hans Zimmer

Principal Cast:

Joe Pesci as Older Pablo Picasso
Gael Garcia Bernal as younger Pablo Picasso
Catherine Zeta Jones as Paloma Picasso
Gwen Stefani as Olga Khokhlova
Chloe Sevigny as Marie-Thérèse Walter
Jennifer Connelly as Françoise Gilot
Rachel Weisz as Dora Maar
Hilary Swank as Jacqueline Roque

Rated R: For language, nudity, abuse and sexual content.

Filming Locations: Paris, France and U.S.A

Tagline: “Art led him to Love but Love inspired his Art"

Running time: 2 hours and 33 minutes

Synopsis: From one of the greatest minds of our time comes a fantastic biography about one of the world’s greatest painters and his many affairs with women he fell in love with over the years. The film begins with Paloma Picasso, Pablo Picasso’s daughter, walking down the hallway of his house on April 6th 1978. Her and her father never really had a good relationship and sees this as her only chance to connect with her father before his death.

Pablo Picasso talks to his daughter about his days as a young painter in France beginning at his wedding to his first wife Olga Khokhlova. He tells her how she introduced him to the life of the rich and famous and many other details. The two had a son by the name of Paulo who Paloma never really had a chance to connect with. The story goes on to 1927 when he meets 17 year old Marie-Thérèse Walter and began a secret affair with her after him and Olga Khokhlova clash over his bohemian lifestyle and her insistence on social proprierty. Marie was the nurse of his family. Olga knew nothing about the affair until Marie became pregnate and one of Olgas friends inforemd her. A scene show Marie committing suicide 4 years after the death of Picasso after her living in vain for Picasso not wanting to marry her. That is when Palomas brother is born. After that Pablo becomes tired and Paloma returns home.

At Palomas home we see that she is a smart business woman with a fashion sense. She is very close with her mother and her mother begins to tell her the story of how she met her father in 1944 when she was 21 and he was 62. She explains how deeply she did love him. And tells her the reason she left her father is because of abusive treatmeant and Picasso cheating on her.

On the next day which is April 7th 1978 Paloma show disgust towards her father because of the way he used to treat her mother. Pablo tells her in a teary scence that he apologizes and that he never knew what love was. He says the day that her mother left him was a huge blow to his heart. He expalins how then began realizing how he was growing older and older. That is when he tells her the only reason that he married his now wife Jacqueline Roque is for revenge on her mother. They both cry together as they realize what they had been missing. At the end of the movie Picasso asks Paloma if she is coming to the party tomorrow and she says that she would try to. She then finds out that her father died at that party. At the end of the movie at her fathers funeral she see the children of her father and tells them that life is too short to not learn about your family.

What the press would say:

This has to be one of the greatest biography movies of all time due the fantastic direction by Pedro Almodovar in his first American Movie. He really captures the lost relationship between the two main characters in Joe Pesci and Catherine Zeta Jones who are starring in what has to be their greatest roles. They were even better than their Academy Award winning ones in Goodfellas and Chicago. The movies flashback scenes give the movie even more and it never lets the movie lose any steam. Gael Garcia Bernal is a fantastic young Pablo Picasso and deserves an Academy Award Nomination. He brings the young Picasso to life through not only his words but his facial expressions. He even gained weight to get into this role similar to what Jamie Foxx did for Ray. The woman are no fluke either as the breakout star is Chloe Sevigny who brings pain and disparity for not being loved the same way she loves Pablo Picasso similar to the fantastic love story in Brokeback Mountain. Jennifer Connelly brings another brilliant portrayal as a grieving lover. Hilary Swank and Gwen Stefani rounds out a fantastic cast that is sure to gain Award nominations from left and Right. This could also be the first time since Titanic that two actors playing the same role be nominated for an Academy Award. There is a brilliant crew also that deserves appreciation for bringing this movie to life.

“Two Thumbs through the roof” Ebert and Roeper
“Similar to his previous movies Pedro Almodovar he brings the audience into this brilliant movie” Peter Travers
“Easily the movie of the year, Joe Pesci is completely unrecognizable” Roger Ebert
“Chloe Sevigny and Gael Garcia Bernal show us why they are cinemas future stars” Richard Roeper
“In his first American Movie Pedro Almodovar proves he is one of the world’s finest directors” Time Magazine
“A screenplay to rival Casablanca’s as two of the greatest writers of this decade team together for this epic” New York Times

Possible Nominations:

Best Motion Picture of the year: Pedro Almodovar, Clint Eastwood and Stephan Spielberg
Achievement in Directing: Pedro Almodovar
Best Original Screenplay: Pedro Almodovar and Paul Haggis
Performance by an Actor in a leading role: Gael Garcia Bernal
Performance by an Actress in a leading role: Catherine Zeta-Jones
Performance by an Actor in a supporting role: Joe Pesci
Performance by an Actress in a supporting role: Chloe Sevigny and Jennifer Connelly
Achievement in Costume Design: Arianne Phillips
Achievement in Art Direction: John Myhre (Art Direction); Gretchen Rau (Set Decoration)
Best Dramatic Score: Hans Zimmer
Best Original Song: Gwen Stefani for “Art of Love”
Achievement in Film Editing: Michael Kahn
Achievement in Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski

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