Modigliani

Plot

The story of Amedeo Modigliani's bitter rivalry with Pablo Picasso, and his tragic romance with Jeanne Hebuterne.

Release Year: 2004

Rating: 6.8/10 (4,276 voted)

Critic's Score: 25/100

Director:
Mick Davis

Stars: Andy Garcia, Elsa Zylberstein, Omid Djalili

Storyline
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…

Cast:

Andy Garcia
–

Amedeo Modigliani

Elsa Zylberstein
–

Jeanne Hébuterne

Omid Djalili
–

Pablo Picasso

Hippolyte Girardot
–

Maurice Utrillo

Eva Herzigova
–

Olga Picasso

Udo Kier
–

Max Jacob

Susie Amy
–

Beatrice Hastings

Peter Capaldi
–

Jean Cocteau

(as Peter Capadli)

Louis Hilyer
–

Zborowski

Stevan Rimkus
–

Soutine

Dan Astileanu
–

Diego Rivera

(as Dan Astilean)

George Ivascu
–

Moise Kisling

Michelle Newell
–

Eudoxie Hébuterne

Frederico Ambrosino
–

Little Dedo

Miriam Margolyes
–

Gertrude Stein

Taglines:
His passion was life. His obsession was art.

Details

Official Website:
Limelight [France] |

Release Date: 29 September 2004

Filming Locations: Bucharest, Romania

Box Office Details

Budget: $14,000,000

(estimated)

Gross: $195,378
(USA)
(17 July 2005)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Goofs:

Anachronisms:
At the end of the flashback to 1892, there's an electric plug, which was invented by Harvey Hubbell in 1904.

Quotes:

Amedeo Modigliani:
Tell me, Pablo, how do you make love to a cube?

User Review

mixed bag

Rating: 7/10


This movie is very much a mixed bag.. it's a good film. It's nice to
watch, the acting is good, the direction is good and the story is
engaging. But I feel it doesn't capture the real spirit of the era and
the Paris artist community. It focuses too much on the immoral behavior
and madness of the artists and leaves out the way these people viewed
the world and their concepts of beauty. It's good the film tries to
show the grittiness of it all, but there was so much more… i'd really
would've liked to see more about what drove modigliani to paint as he
did and what exactly drove him to destruction. This film only just
touches on that…

it tries too much to please the American audience in their quest for
standardized Hollywood stories, but on the other hand it tries to have
a certain "artsy" flair that remains just polish because it lacks
depth. Add to that some production-decisions that are a bit
unfortunate, like the for any European obviously fake accents. They
should've taken the original languages (french, Italian, Spanish,
German) or English. Not this lame compromise..

Still you gotta see this. Not for an actual representation of
modiglianis life or that era, just for it being a good film, dealing
with passion, loyalty, madness, love and hate. See it for the
atmosphere ,which although not accurate, is beautiful. See it for the
good acting and the wonderful chemistry between modi and picasso. It
could've been so much more but it is what it is.. good, intelligent
entertainment.