Surviving Picasso
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Surviving Picasso | |
---|---|
Directed by | James Ivory |
Screenplay by | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |
Based on | Picasso: Creator and Destroyer by Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington |
Produced by | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Tony Pierce-Roberts |
Edited by | Andrew Marcus |
Music by | Richard Robbins |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 125 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $16 million |
Box office | $2 million |
Surviving Picasso is a 1996 American biographical drama film directed by James Ivory and starring Anthony Hopkins as the famous painter Pablo Picasso. It was produced by Ismail Merchant and David L. Wolper. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's screenplay was loosely based on the 1988 biography Picasso: Creator and Destroyer by Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington. It was a box-office bomb, grossing $2 million at the box office against a budget of $16 million.
Plot[edit]
The young Françoise Gilot meets Picasso in Nazi-occupied Paris, where Picasso is complaining that people broke into his house and stole his linen, rather than his paintings. It shows Françoise being beaten by her father after telling him she wants to be a painter, rather than a lawyer. Picasso is shown as often not caring about other people's feelings, firing his driver after a long period of service, and as a womanizer, saying that he can sleep with whomever he wants.
In addition to Françoise, the film depicts several of the women who were important in Picasso's life, such as Olga Khokhlova, Dora Maar, Marie-Thérèse Walter, and Jacqueline Roque.
Cast[edit]
- Anthony Hopkins as Pablo Picasso
- Natascha McElhone as Françoise Gilot
- Julianne Moore as Dora Maar
- Joss Ackland as Henri Matisse
- Dennis Boutsikaris as Kootz
- Peter Eyre as Sabartes
- Peter Gerety as Marcel
- Susannah Harker as Marie-Thérèse Walter
- Jane Lapotaire as Olga Khokhlova
- Joseph Maher as Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler
- Bob Peck as Françoise's Father
- Joan Plowright as Françoise's Grandmother
- Diane Venora as Jacqueline Roque
- Dominic West as Paulo Picasso
- Laura Aikman as Maya Widmaier-Picasso
Production[edit]
The producers were unable to get permission to show the works of Picasso in the film, so the film is more about Picasso's personal life rather than his works. Where it does show paintings, they are not his more famous works. When Picasso is shown painting Guernica, the camera sits high above the painting, with the work only slightly visible.[citation needed]
The film was shot in Paris and southern France.
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 35% of 20 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.1/10.[1] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 55 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[2]
Box office[edit]
In the United States and Canada, Picasso grossed $2 million at the box office, against a budget of $16 million.[3]
References[edit]
- ^ "Surviving Picasso". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
- ^ "Surviving Picasso". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
- ^ "Surviving Picasso". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
External links[edit]
- 1996 films
- 1996 drama films
- 1990s American films
- 1990s biographical drama films
- 1990s English-language films
- American biographical drama films
- Biographical films about painters
- Cultural depictions of Henri Matisse
- Cultural depictions of Pablo Picasso
- Films based on biographies
- Films directed by James Ivory
- Films produced by David L. Wolper
- Films set in Paris
- Films shot at Pinewood Studios
- Films shot in France
- Films shot in Paris
- Films with screenplays by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
- Merchant Ivory Productions films
- The Wolper Organization films
- Warner Bros. films
- Films scored by Richard Robbins