LOVING VINCENT – Review

Dr. Gauchet (Jerome Flynn) in LOVING VINCENT. Painting by Kat Knutsen. Copyright © Loving Vincent

The strikingly beautiful animated film LOVING VINCENT is described as “the world’s first fully oil painted feature film.” That description means a group of artists hand-painted the images that fill this stunningly beautiful film. This intriguing, ambitious film goes a step further and puts animated actors into Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings, which are used as the setting to explore the artist’s life and work through a mystery tale investigating his death. The result is not only gorgeous but an appealing fact-and-fiction tale through which the film recounts the famous artist’s life and art.

Van Gogh paintings are brought to life so that the actors, rotoscoped and then painted, move around in them, an amazing and pleasing effect. LOVING VINCENT employed a team of 125 artists over six years to hand-paint in oil recreations of Van Gogh paintings and the images of the actors in this unusual film. The film’s 65,000 frames feature 125 of Van Gogh’s paintings, starting with the famous “Starry Night.” Using a title taken from a signature, “your loving Vincent,” on Van Gogh’s letters to his brother Theo, LOVING VINCENT explores the life and art of Van Gogh through a sort of detective story.

This joint British – Polish production used a cast of mostly-British actors in roles based on real people from Van Gogh’s life. Douglas Booth plays the main character Arnaud, the son of Van Gogh’s postman and friend in Arles, Joseph Roulin (Chris O’Dowd). Arnaud’s father sends him on a journey to deliver Vincent’s last letter but the young Arnaud finds himself drawn into trying to uncover the facts behind the artist’s death. On his quest, Arnaud walks through a series of Van Gogh’s famous paintings, talking to various people who knew the artist. Arnaud’s journey takes him from Arles to Paris to Auvers-sur-Oise. Among those he meets are the painter’s physician Dr. Paul Gachet (Jerome Flynn, GAME OF THRONES’ Bronn), the doctor’s daughter Marguerite (Saoirse Ronan), his housekeeper Louise (Helen McCrory), the daughter of Van Gogh’s last landlord Adeline Ravoux (Eleanor Tomlinson, Demelza on BBC’s POLDARK ), and a boatman who knew him (Aiden Turner, who plays the lead on POLDARK).

Full disclosure here: As the daughter of an artist, a painter who worked in oil, I am a soft touch for anything about Van Gogh as well as intrigued by anything like this kind of ambitious cinema project. Given that the artist is one of the most popular, the film should generate wide interest, which is well rewarded in this remarkable film. The oil painting technique creates vibrant images, and the chance to move through the famous paintings is nothing less than spectacular. Van Gogh’s vivid use of color and bold brush strokes readily lends itself to this unique animation project. The actors are animated using a rotoscope technique, which captures the movement of their features, but each actor is also made up, costumed and in character of a person painted by Van Gogh, which makes their placement in this lovely landscape feel right. Watching the semi-animated actors move through the Van Gogh’s paintings is immensely appealing, a permanent delight of this film. Most of the film is in color, but a few flashback scenes are rendered in black and white, although still reproducing the artist’s signature style. It is a wonderful immersive experience and a visually beautiful film.

If the film had nothing else, it would be worth seeing for its sheer visual beauty. But the film does have more than its lush images, with a clever story that keeps the audience involved in the film while giving a short overview of Van Gogh’s life. The mystery story is involving and the fine cast give evocative performances, so the blending of cinema art and oil painting is perfect.

This wonderful film is an ambitious undertaking but it succeeds marvelously. LOVING VINCENT is a film best seen on a big screen, to fully appreciate all it offers. LOVING VINCENT opens Friday, October 27, at Landmark Theater’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars