A drama about the awakening of painter Margaret Keane, her phenomenal success in the 1950s, and the subsequent legal difficulties she had with her husband, who claimed credit for her works in the 1960s.
In San Francisco in the 1950s, Margaret was a woman trying to make it on her own after leaving her husband with only her daughter and her paintings. She meets gregarious ladies' man and fellow painter Walter Keane in a park while she was struggling to make an impact with her drawings of children with big eyes. The two quickly become a pair with outgoing Walter selling their paintings and quiet Margaret holed up at home painting even more children with big eyes. But Walter's actually selling her paintings as his own. A clash of financial success and critical failure soon sends Margaret reeling in her life of lies. With Walter still living the high life, Margaret's going to have to try making it on her own again and re-claiming her name and her paintings.Written by
Anne Campbell
Many people cite the fact that Margaret had turpentine in her studio as an error, as the movie only mentions her using acrylic paint which is water-soluble. However, Margaret Keane painted in both acrylics and oils and would have had turpentine in her studio. See more »
Goofs
The grocery store where Margaret finds mass-produced copies of her paintings appears to be an A&P. A&P is an East Coast chain which has never had stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Dick Nolan:
[narrating]
The '50s were a grand time, if you were a man. I'm Dick Nolan. I make things up for a living - I'm a reporter.
[Margaret frantically packing things]
Dick Nolan:
It's the strangest goddamn story that I ever covered. It started the day that Margaret Ulbrich walked out on her suffocating husband, long before it became the fashionable thing to do.
Margaret Keane:
Come on, Janie.
[they get into the car]
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Based on a true story, brrr... Burton ventures into the realm of TV movie land (that's where most true story movies dwell) although this was a limited cinematic release and also limited success. Amy Adams plays a painter who paints children with Big Eyes. She meets and marries Waltz who shortly after begins to take credit for her work. Adams is cast well as the good virtuous woman and Waltz is a bit type-cast as the friendly but guy-you-love-to-hate-and-wanna-punch-in-the-face bad guy. But he plays it big and sometimes a bit comedic which makes the tone of the film lighter. Big Eyes has a very colorful set- and production design and looks great. The movie itself tough feels like it could have been made by any other director and doesn't have the Burton feel. So you could say it's the least Burton-esque film in his repertoire. Seeing it in the cinemas won't add much value, it's more a nice Sunday afternoon flick that works just as well on your small screen.
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Based on a true story, brrr... Burton ventures into the realm of TV movie land (that's where most true story movies dwell) although this was a limited cinematic release and also limited success. Amy Adams plays a painter who paints children with Big Eyes. She meets and marries Waltz who shortly after begins to take credit for her work. Adams is cast well as the good virtuous woman and Waltz is a bit type-cast as the friendly but guy-you-love-to-hate-and-wanna-punch-in-the-face bad guy. But he plays it big and sometimes a bit comedic which makes the tone of the film lighter. Big Eyes has a very colorful set- and production design and looks great. The movie itself tough feels like it could have been made by any other director and doesn't have the Burton feel. So you could say it's the least Burton-esque film in his repertoire. Seeing it in the cinemas won't add much value, it's more a nice Sunday afternoon flick that works just as well on your small screen.