“At Eternity’s Gate”– Movie Review

On the closing night of The 56th New York Film Festival, I attended the North American Premiere of the new biographical drama, “At Eternity’s Gate”, starring Willem Dafoe and Oscar Isaac and directed by Julian Schnabel. 

Synopsis

In the final years of the life of Vincent Van Gogh, will he finally be recognized for his art or will he continue to go unappreciated?

Story

After decades of sacrifice, suffering and solitude, the artist Vincent Van Gogh (Dafoe) is no closer to being a success now than he was when he started painting.  When he arranges a free showing of his work at a Paris tavern, the proprietor throws out Van Gogh – along with his paintings – when the other artists he promised fail to show up and Van Gogh’s own work isn’t of much interest to the general public.  Seemingly the only person who thinks Van Gogh’s art is of some value is his contemporary, Paul Gauguin (Isaac), who comes to befriend his friendless peer.

Gauguin suggests a change of scenery – the south of France would be better for him.  Van Gogh takes the advice and heads there, where his lifestyle is subsidized by his brother, Theo (Rupert Friend).  Theo has a wife and child of his own and is by no means a wealthy man – but he does love his brother Vincent deeply and wants very much to support him in his artistic endeavors.  Despite the emotional problems from which Vincent suffers, Theo knows that his brother takes being an artist very seriously – even though it seems no one else takes Vincent seriously as an artist. 

Eventually, Gauguin and Van Gogh catch up again and together, they stay at an inn where they spend their days painting, sketching and discussing art.  Before long, Gauguin comes to the realization that he and Van Gogh are completely incompatible not only in their own personal philosophies of art but also with respect to how to paint:  while Van Gogh rushes through to complete all of his paintings in an almost frenzied state, Gauguin insists on taking his time with each painting, considering each color and how the paint will rest on the canvas.  When Gauguin deserts Van Gogh, a distraught Vincent responds by severing his left ear.  After being hospitalized for mental illness, can he regain his composure to paint or will he spent the rest of his life institutionalized?         

Review

While both Dafoe and Isaac give inspired performances in “At Eternity’s Gate”, that may not be enough to qualify this movie as truly great.  Through his madness, Van Gogh comes across as somewhat self-indulgent; likewise, through his film, Schnabel also appears rather self-indulgent as well.  The way this story is told, the audience is provided very little chance to empathize with its subject.  True, our compassion is supposed to come out of Van Gogh’s suffering for his art because he was not as well-respected during his lifetime as after his death, but he doesn’t engender much sympathy – in large part, perhaps, due to his mental disorders.

This brings up another issue:  how much compassion should we feel because the artist was crazy?  Although Van Gogh claims to be aware of the fact that he’s losing his mind, when we see him exhibit out of control behavior, it difficult to root for this character.  Regardless of whether or not he achieves his professional goals, he remains a danger to both himself and others.  Obviously, he is trapped in loneliness because of his mental health, over which he has no control; this and the lack of acceptance of his paintings makes him feel even more ostracized, which drives him deeper into despair. 

Schnabel takes great care to reinforce in his audience the fact that Van Gogh wasn’t thought of as a great artist during his time.  However, he doesn’t make any attempt to help us understand why Van Gogh became so exalted posthumously.  You either buy into the idea that Van Gogh was a great artist or you don’t – and if you don’t, then you’ll likely have a difficult time mustering much sympathy for this movie’s protagonist.  As with any creative endeavor, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, as the saying goes.  That’s just as true with Van Gogh’s art as it is for this film about him.