Vincent van Gogh’s life and art have been captured on film before, but Loving Vincent is the first to do it as an animation. The film is a work of love by van Gogh’s admirers, and portrays him in a deeply sympathetic light; a halo of reverence cast on the reclusive artist and each frame an oil painting by itself. Each frame has been hand-painted by artists from around the world in a style that is a pastiche of van Gogh’s art. Mind you, the oil painting animation isn’t merely a gimmick. By using the artist’s medium of choice, and playing around with it, filmmakers Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman engage with his work at a deeper level.
The flickering quality of the animation makes the viewing experience similar to that of a phenakistoscope or a flip book. This effectively gives the audience space and time to detach from the plot, and engage with the medium in front of them.
The pace of the story is slow enough for the audience to engage with the gentle sway of the corn fields that appear in his famous works, the shifting patterns on people’s faces, and the glorious animation of the work ‘Starry Night’. In fact, some of van Gogh’s paintings “come to life and speak to the audience”, giving a wonderful feeling for those familiar with his visual language.
Plotted like a whodunnit, the film centres on the time period immediately after van Gogh’s suicide. Armand Roulin, the lead protagonist, is out to deliver a letter to van Gogh’s brother Theo, after repeated attempts by his father, a postman, have failed. Armand first reaches out to Julien Tanguy, a paint supplier and dealer, and the man whom van Gogh had painted thrice in different stages of his life. He finds out from Tanguy that Theo had died of syphilis soon after van Gogh’s death. In van Gogh’s last tranquil painting of Tanguy, his Japanese prints can be seen behind the model and within the frame.
Tanguy puts Armand on the search for Dr Gachet, van Gogh’s psychiatrist and friend, in the village of Auvers-sur-Oise where, van Gogh spent the last days of his life.
Armand arrives at the village and tries to find out what may have triggered van Gogh’s decision to take his own life. He stays in the same inn where van Gogh spent his final days, and tries to piece together the story bit by bit. The plot is only faintly thrilling, but its emotional tenor, the beauty of van Gogh’s wild mind, which the other characters of the film and, by extension, the audience can only attempt to understand, hold the film together. The mystery lies in van Gogh’s feelings and the way they appear on canvas. His complicated relationship with his brother, his thoughts about his unemployment and partial financial dependence combine to accentuate his suffering.
Loving Vincent is not much by way of an intellectual tribute, in the sense that it doesn’t pay close attention to the artist’s genius, and instead scrutinises his inner life; the omniscient narrator turns a kind eye on the suffering artist, who, despite his pains, remained sensitive to the sufferings of those around him.
Here we get to see van Gogh the romantic, the person behind the persona, who shyly pursues Gachet’s daughter Marguerite, whom he paints twice. He values his friendship with Gachet, and sees through the latter’s obvious jealousy of his gifted mind. We revel with van Gogh as he observes the miracles of nature, later immortalised in paintings.
Loving Vincent tiptoes around the painter, reverent of its muse, painting him in shades of kindness, and deeply sympathetic of his vulnerability. Van Gogh in the film is intensely sincere, and carries the hurt of being misunderstood, and the slow horror of becoming despised. Rather than explain himself, van Gogh prefers a quiet exit.
The film took 125 artists six years to complete, including the 65,000 paintings in all, and was crowd-funded by a Kickstarter campaign. The everyday characters whom the painter had chosen to portray on canvas come alive in these animated frames, complete with their backstories of hurt, anger, joy, ecstasy, doubt, silence — it’s a sensory treat for all van Gogh fans.
There is no doubt that the film has been widely watched, and has already made almost double the money it took to make. It has got a mixed reaction from viewers. While some felt the effects distracted from the film, I found it hypnotic. Art and movie critics have written off Loving Vincent for making the ‘high art’ of van Gogh too easily accessible. Some even said there was a need to make the artist ‘less popular’ to rescue him. Although Loving Vincent might not be the best, or even a fair tribute to van Gogh, (and what, really, will ever measure up to the art you love?), it remains an immersive film. It is an act of love for an artist who is believed to have felt deeply alone in this world.
It is perhaps fitting that in the film he says, “Well the truth is, we cannot speak other than by our paintings.”
(The article first appeared in The Hindu BusinessLine's BLInk.)