The Moderns (1988)

Nick Hart is a struggling American artist who lives amongst the expatriate community in 1920s Paris. He spends most of his time drinking and socializing in local cafés and pestering gallery... See full summary »

Director:

Alan Rudolph

Writers:

Alan Rudolph, John Bradshaw

Stars:

Keith Carradine, Linda Fiorentino, Wallace Shawn

3 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Keith Carradine	...	Nick Hart
Linda Fiorentino	...	Rachel Stone
Wallace Shawn	...	Oiseau
Geneviève Bujold	...	Libby Valentin (as Genevieve Bujold)
Geraldine Chaplin	...	Nathalie de Ville
Kevin J. O'Connor	...	Hemingway
John Lone	...	Bertram Stone
Charlélie Couture	...	L'Evidence (as Charlelie Couture)
Elsa Raven	...	Gertrude Stein
Ali Giron	...	Alice B. Toklas
Gailard Sartain	...	New York Critic
Michael Wilson	...	Surrealist Poet
Robert Gould	...	Blackie
Antonia Dauphin	...	Babette
Véronique Bellegarde	...	Laurette (as Veronique Bellegarde)

Storyline

Nick Hart is a struggling American artist who lives amongst the expatriate community in 1920s Paris. He spends most of his time drinking and socializing in local cafés and pestering gallery owner Libby Valentin to sell his paintings. He becomes involved in a plot by wealthy art patroness Nathalie de Ville to forge three paintings. This leads to several run-ins with American rubber magnate Bertram Stone, who happens to be married to Hart's ex-wife Rachel.

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Plot Keywords:

painting | art | expatriate | art patroness | 1920s | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

May 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

A modernek

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Box Office

Gross:

$2,011,497 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nelson Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby (as Dolby Stereo)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Oiseau: [while observing his own faked funeral] If it weren't for me, these people would think surreal was a breakfast food!

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Soundtracks

"Parlez-moi d'amour"
(1930)
Performed by Charlélie Couture (as CharlElie Couture)
Written by Jean Lenoir
Produced by Mark Isham

User Reviews

A quirky little movie about fakery

This may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it has a genuine, unpretentious charm to it that I found appealing.

Alan Rudolph made this delightful little ode to lies, trickery and delusion on a shoestring budget. The story of a failed painter down on his luck in Paris in the 1920's who accepts a comission to forge a famous impressionist painting. The film questions what is real versus what is perceived or subjective. In a series of criss-crossing subplots and seemingly random encounters Rudolph has fun playing with the trickery of film to made some sly points about the art forms we hold dear.

The film was shot in Montreal, Canada, standing in for Paris and New York in the 1920's, with French-Canadian actors playing Parisians... The plot twists include a millionaire art collector publicly slashing a priceless painting, thinking it a forgery, while the fake painting is sent to hang in a New York museum. A Dadaist poet fakes his own death in order to attend his funeral to hear the things people will say about him. Same character, named L'Oiseau is actually an American ex-patriate named Fagelman! In a toungue-in-cheek hommage to people's perception of the period, Rudolph has Papa Hemmingway hanging-out in all the cafe's and at all the parties... He is seemingly everywhere, sipping scotch and mouthing tough-guy cliches...

But the viewer must beware of what he is watching. In a scene where Bujold's character rides in a taxi with Carradine's we are treated to lovely rear projection shots through the cab's back window of impressionist paintings of Paris at night! In another dimly lit cafe scene Rudolph chose to end the scene by panning away from the action to the bar where among the extras in period costume, two punk rockers are watching a hockey game on t.v.