Willem Dafoe as Vincent Van Gogh
Following on from his beautiful 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' (2007), Julian Schnabel brings us 'At Eternity's Gate', an intense portrait of the painter Vincent Van Gogh, played brilliantly by Willem Dafoe.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Like his earlier film, Schnabel's has used his considerable visual sensibilities to get behind the eyes of his main protagonist. In the case of 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, it was Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffered a catastrophic stroke leaving him totally paralysed save only for his left eye. This was conveyed by very sensitive and inventive use of the camera and lenses.
In 'At Eternity's Gate' you are not only seeing through Van Gogh's eyes, but you are inside his head, and walking in his shoes. This, captured by cinematographer, Benoît Delhomme, via a relentless use of handheld camera work in following Van Gogh's frantic footsteps through mud, rocky terrain and the long wild grasses of Provence accompanied by the intense blinding glow of the beating sun. Schnabel's has attempted to express the euphoria and excitement that Van Gogh felt about nature and his urgency to interpret and capture it on canvas.
Often when an actor is trying to 'act' the painter it is, more often than not, rather naff, but Dafoe pulls it off magnificently, apparently having been coached by Schnabel's on how to hold and paint with a brush. And even the spoof Van Gogh paintings and sketches are very passable. No need to go too deeply into the story, as we all know what finally happened to poor Van Gogh. I thoroughly enjoyed this intensely visual film. Here is the trailer.