Gauguin

At the end of the 19th century, French artist Paul Gauguin (Vincent Cassel) has found no happiness in Paris. His works are scorned and he lives in perpetual poverty. Therefore, he chooses exile in French Polynesia. Here he wants to find new inspiration for his art, but only loneliness, hunger and illness await him. In the young native Tehura (Tuheï Adams), Gauguin finds a companion and muse who will become the model for his most famous works.

Director Edouard Deluc did not want to cover the life of Gauguin the artist in a typical biopic. Rather, he wanted to try to highlight the period of his life that influenced Gauguin's particular style, which would lead to his most defining and well-known works. To tell this story, Deluc deliberately used the stylistic devices of classic Westerns in order to escape the clear corset of a biopic. He used the book Noa Noa, in which Gaugin recorded his journey to Tahiti, as a model. The filmmaker interpreted the book freely, but retained the essence. Tehura, for example, features several women Gaugin met on his trip.

Despite this, Gauguin is very concerned with authenticity, especially with regard to the creation of the pictures and their inspiration. And so it comes as little surprise that the film is absolutely stunning on a visual level. Here it radiates a power and a liveliness that the dramaturgical level unfortunately lacks. Neither the strong images, nor the intense acting of Vincent Cassel succeed in giving the viewer real access to the story or the characters. Deluc doesn't manage to actually carry off the tension, which definitely underlies the whole thing, in a rousing way.

Too often his production gets bogged down in long sequences where little to nothing happens and in little snapshots that are nice to look at on their own, but somehow seem unnecessary in the overall context. Thus, as you watch, you quickly sink into a stream of boredom that you aren't released from until the credits roll. The film is a welcome attempt to show an artist's biography that just isn't a standard biopic. For viewers who just like to lose themselves in pictures, the whole thing is certainly worth seeing. But for those who need more - like likeable characters or a gripping story - this plodding work is unlikely to excite.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp