Modigliani (2004)

The story of Amedeo Modigliani's bitter rivalry with Pablo Picasso, and his tragic romance with Jeanne Hebuterne.

Director:

Mick Davis

Writer:

Mick Davis

Stars:

Andy Garcia, Elsa Zylberstein, Omid Djalili

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Andy Garcia	...	Amedeo Modigliani
Elsa Zylberstein	...	Jeanne Hébuterne
Omid Djalili	...	Pablo Picasso
Hippolyte Girardot	...	Maurice Utrillo
Eva Herzigova	...	Olga Picasso
Udo Kier	...	Max Jacob
Susie Amy	...	Beatrice Hastings
Peter Capaldi	...	Jean Cocteau (as Peter Capadli)
Louis Hilyer	...	Zborowski
Stevan Rimkus	...	Soutine
Dan Astileanu	...	Diego Rivera (as Dan Astilean)
George Ivascu	...	Moise Kisling
Michelle Newell	...	Eudoxie Hébuterne
Frederico Ambrosino	...	Little Dedo
Miriam Margolyes	...	Gertrude Stein

Storyline

Set in Paris in 1919, biopic centers on the life of late Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, focusing on his last days as well as his rivalry with Pablo Picasso. Modigliani, a Jew, has fallen in love with Jeanne, a young and beautiful Catholic girl. The couple has an illegitimate child, and Jeanne's bigoted parents send the baby to a faraway convent to be raised by nuns. Modigliani is distraught and needs money to rescue and raise his child. The answer arrives in the shape of Paris' annual art competition. Prize money and a guaranteed career await the winner. Neither Modigliani, nor his dearest friend and rival Picasso have ever entered the competition, believing that it is beneath true artists like themselves. But push comes to shove with the welfare of his child on the line, and Modigliani signs up for the competition in a drunken and drug-induced tirade. Picasso follows suit and all of Paris is aflutter with excitement at who will win. With the balance of his relationship with Jeanne...

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Plot Keywords:

character name as title | amedeo modigliani character | surname as title | one word title | montparnasse | 

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Taglines:

His Ending Was The Tragedy of Pure Genius...

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some language and drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Limelight [France]

Country:

UK Germany Romania France Italy

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 September 2004 (France)

Also Known As:

Untitled Modigliani Project

Filming Locations:

Bucharest, Romania

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,971, 10 June 2005, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$195,378, 17 July 2005

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lucky 7 Productions LLC, Media Pro Pictures, Alicéléo

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Reunites Andy Garcia with Lance Henrikson after Jennifer Eight (1992)

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Goofs

In the movie, Frida Kahlo, the wife of Diego Riviera appears. But Frida was born in 1907, so in 1920 she would have been 13, while in the movie she is portrayed as an adult. She married Diego only in 1929.

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Quotes

Amedeo Modigliani: Tell me, Pablo, how do you make love to a cube?

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Soundtracks

Ode to Innocence
Performed by Sasha Lazard
Composed by Giulio Caccini, James Ide & Dale Wardlaw

User Reviews

Leaving Las Paris

Colorful and engaging, albeit, self-important lengthy Bio-Pic. Acting values range from screaming to sublime. Artist portrayals are always difficult to convey on the screen, and in this case, a painter, comes across as self-serving, ultimately unsympathetic but full of great art. His oeuvre speaks volumes but his lifestyle, littered with latch key kid lacking, results in some sad and destructive behavioral patterns that he never could outgrow. Backstory handled effectively and the anti-semitic storyline brutally honest but ham-fisted by the script. The debauched artists are overwhelmed by pistols, pity and the tortured artist syndrome. The scenes between the Big M and Pablo Picasso are the most interesting because of the tension created by the actors in each of the scenes; but Diego Rivera is reduced to bows and grunts. Excessive use of blood overstates some of the violence and one of the characters spends all his time yelling, about anything and everything. The "age" of the baby bothered my gal-pal ("M's" lover is seven months pregnant and carrying a three month old in her arms...say what?!) and the bad guys are straw-men with blackjacks to wield. Although there are scenes of "M" studying the bone structure of his subjects and checking out the rain on his window pane his artistic inspiration may be too subtle for the cinema to effectively embrace, without including his bouts with booze and hash. Keep this guy away from mommy's purse, he's a man on binge mission. Of course how do you portray inspiration? That's a puzzle. Too bad, too, because ultimately "M" left me mostly unmoved and wanting to take a trip to The Prado; rather than watch a vain and valiant Andy Garcia doing his Leaving Las Vegas cocktail chug-a-lug tumble down the auteur hole of dipsomania and consumption. Not a pretty slide. Not since Steven Boyd sucked his last gasp in Ben Hur has a character expelled air with such profound pathos. The women are pretty pawns in the directors hand's and the Salon Artist Paint-off "Contender" sequence rivals March Madness in frustration, respect and triumph. The euro trash tune-age is redolent of Cirque Du...and the salon scenes are gaudy but filled to the brim with odd balls and period patches.

Has the film a USA distributor? And for who is the pic targeted? The Hitch and Robots crowds will have a hard time pronouncing the title let along paying ten bucks to walk through the doors of the local multiplex to catch this one. Wait till DVD, rent it; and then go to an art gallery.