Words and Pictures (2013)

An art instructor and an English teacher form a rivalry that ends up with a competition at their school in which students decide whether words or pictures are more important.

Director:

Fred Schepisi

Writer:

Gerald Di Pego (as Gerald DiPego)

Stars:

Clive Owen, Juliette Binoche, Bruce Davison

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clive Owen	...	Jack Marcus
Juliette Binoche	...	Dina Delsanto
Bruce Davison	...	Walt
Navid Negahban	...	Rashid
Amy Brenneman	...	Elspeth
Valerie Tian	...	Emily
Adam DiMarco	...	Swint
Josh Ssettuba	...	Cole Patterson
Janet Kidder	...	Sabine
Christian Scheider	...	Tony
Keegan Connor Tracy	...	Ellen
Andrew McIlroy	...	Roy Loden
Harrison MacDonald	...	Shaftner
Willem Jacobson	...	Stanhope
Tanaya Beatty	...	Tammy

Storyline

A flamboyant English teacher (Clive Owen) and a new, stoic art teacher (Juliette Binoche) collide at an upscale prep school. A high-spirited courtship begins and she finds herself enjoying the battle. Another battle they begin has the students trying to prove which is more powerful, the word or the picture. But the true war is against their own demons, as two troubled souls struggle for connection.

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Plot Keywords:

rheumatoid arthritis | teacher | school | battle | words | 

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Taglines:

Is a man worth more than his words, a woman worth more than her pictures?

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual material including nude sketches, language and some mature thematic material

Details

Official Sites:

Juliette Binoche: The Art of Being - Official Fansite Official site

Country:

USA Canada Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 July 2014 (Australia)

Also Known As:

Words and Pictures

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$87,879, 25 May 2014

Gross USA:

$2,171,257

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,449,811

Company Credits

Production Co:

Latitude Productions, Lascaux Films, American Entertainment Investors

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the scene in which Jack Marcus destroys his living room, the music in the background is David Bowie's "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" from his album The Next Day. Clive Owen insisted on using this on the soundtrack rather than the classical music that director Fred Schepisi preferred.

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Quotes

Elspeth: Just be who you were!
Jack Marcus: Nobody can.

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Soundtracks

Doubly
Written & Performed by Paul Grabowsky

User Reviews

Far more intellectually stimulating than your average romantic comedy

This is an honest movie that could be classified as a romantic comedy, but offers something more cerebral than that.

Through its main protagonist, the witty but self-destructive Jack (who plays tennis in his lounge room when drunk) we see a glimpse of the kind of inspirational teacher from Dead Poets Society recast in the information age where students can answer any question by referring to their electronic devices, while never understanding the worth of the question in the first place.

Don't let the love story fool you into thinking this is a chick flick. It's about appreciating the creation and expression of new ideas, neatly summed-up in the title: Words & Pictures.

This movie pleasantly surprised me with its clever dialogue and wordplay, despite the boy-meets-girl, etc storyline. Well worth a look.