Modigliani (film)

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Modigliani

Directed by	Mick Davis
Produced by	Philippe Martinez
Written by	Mick Davis
Starring	Andy Garcia
Editing by	Emma E. Hickox
Distributed by	Bauer Martinez Studios
Release date(s)	29 September 2004 (France)
Running time	128 min
Language	English
Gross revenue	$195,378 (US)
Official website
IMDb profile

Modigliani is a 2004 biographical film of the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Reception
4 Notes
5 External links

[edit] Plot

(From IMDb)

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 on the line, Modigliani tackles this work with the hopes of creating a masterpiece, and knows that all the artists of Paris are doing the same.

[edit] Cast

Andy Garcia was chosen for the lead. His chief love interest Jeanne Hébuterne is played by Elsa Zylberstein. Modigliani's rival, Pablo Picasso, is portrayed by Omid Djalili.

Hippolyte Girardot ... Maurice Utrillo
Eva Herzigova ... Olga Khokhlova (Picasso's wife)
Udo Kier ... Max Jacob
Susie Amy ... Beatrice Hastings
Peter Capaldi ... Jean Cocteau
Louis Hilyer ... Leopold Zborowski
Stevan Rimkus ... Chaim Soutine
Dan Astileanu ... Diego Rivera
George Ivascu ... Moise Kisling
Michelle Newell ... Eudoxie Hébuterne
Frederico Ambrosino ... Little Dedo
Miriam Margolyes ... Gertrude Stein

[edit] Reception

The film was not well received by critics. New York Times critic Stephen Holden wrote, "The best and maybe the only use to be made of the catastrophic screen biography "Modigliani" is to serve as a textbook outline of how not to film the life of a legendary artist."^[1]