Surviving Picasso (1996)

Director:

James Ivory

Writers (WGA):

Arianna Huffington (book)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 September 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Only his passion for women could rival his passion for painting.

Plot:

The passionate Merchant-Ivory drama tells the story of Francoise Gilot, the only lover of Pablo Picasso who was strong enough to withstand his ferocious cruelty and move on with her life.

Plot Keywords:

Pablo Picasso | Mistress | Painting | Lover | Painter

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Anthony Hopkins	...	Pablo Picasso
Natascha McElhone	...	Françoise Gilot
Julianne Moore	...	Dora Maar
Joss Ackland	...	Henri Matisse
Dennis Boutsikaris	...	Kootz
Peter Eyre	...	Sabartes
Peter Gerety	...	Marcel
Susannah Harker	...	Marie-Thérèse
Jane Lapotaire	...	Olga Picasso
Joseph Maher	...	Kahnweiler
Bob Peck	...	Françoise's Father
Diane Venora	...	Jacqueline
Dominic West	...	Paulo Picasso
Joan Plowright	...	Françoise's Grandmother
Laura Aikman	...	Maya

MPAA:

Rated R for a scene of nudity and brief sex-related language.

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M (TV rating) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Iceland:L | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:R(A) | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

France

Company:

Merchant Ivory Productions

Trivia:

Marlon Brando was once interested in playing Pablo Picasso and was trying to reduce weight on a banana diet.

Quotes:

Pablo Picasso: I love wild cats. They are always pregnant because they think of nothing but love.

A burst of emotions!

I recognize James Ivory's talent, but except for this movie, never watch any of his movies for the second time, and this because his taste for stretched, out-of-date, heavy, static movies(see "Howard's End"). His predilection for adaptations for the big screen of a novel usually set in a time period when social standing was more of an issue than today, combined with his obvious taste for older actors, and not at last, his age, which unavoidably sets the pace of the movies he directs, makes him a favorite for an older audience.

This is not the case here, where Ivory uses all his resources to the full extent, without sacrificing on freshness. The point of view is quite interesting placed as Françoise Gilot, a subjective, yet well informed observer, this imprinting a fresh and personal point of view to the account.

Françoise has the right, and judges Picasso(although she knew what she was getting into), who clearly was a difficult man, but also, like all powerful personalities, was a much misunderstood man. In a sense it's an account of a meeting between an artistic genius with a common person, who unavoidably perceives him as an oddity; but how can one expect a man like Picasso to behave like a common man, when he was not one?

Anthony Hopkins undergoes a complete transformation, and becomes the man Picasso, this only coming as further proof that a great artist can only be understood by another great artist, and the rest of us are just lucky spectators.