At Eternity’s Gate (2018)

Directed by: Julian Schnabel | 111 minutes | biography, drama | Actors: Willem Dafoe, Rupert Friend, Oscar Isaac, Mads Mikkelsen, Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Niels Arestup, Anne Consigny, Amira Casar, Vincent Perez, Lolita Chammah, Stella Schnabel, Vladimir Consigny

Vincent van Gogh continues to appeal to the imagination. The story of the tormented painter who literally suffered for his art and was only considered the genius he was after his death is timeless. Just like his paintings, the poignant life story of the Brabant artist has captivated and inspired millions of people. Perhaps the most beautiful tribute to Van Gogh was ‘Loving Vincent’, an animated film that used the artist’s signature painting style. As if a masterpiece by the painter came to life. ‘Loving Vincent’ was released in 2017. A year later, ‘At Eternity’s Gate’ was released: also a film about the life of Van Gogh. How does this live action film compare to the animated film?

‘At Eternity’s Gate’, directed by Julian Schnabel, revolves around Van Gogh’s last days. The desperate painter lives in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise. His painting is not to his liking. In addition to a steady income, Van Gogh also struggles with his mental health. Faith offers him little comfort and his friendship with Paul Gauguin also crumbles. De Brabander is starting to lose his grip on reality.

The driving force behind ‘At Eternity’s Gate’ is Willem Dafoe. This American gives himself completely and goes very deep. Dafoe portrays Van Gogh as an intensely sensitive person. A fragile person who ends up even deeper in the pit with every setback and can’t get out and isolates himself more and more. Unfortunately, less attention has been paid to the rest of the casting, making this film feel underdeveloped at times. There had been more residents. Mad Mikkelsen is flat as a priest and gets too little to do in this film. The same goes for Oscar Isaac in the role of Gauguin. While Dafoe goes into depth, the other actors remain rather on the plain. That mainly depends on the script.

Schnabel’s camerawork is daring, but also nauseating at the same time. The camera swings up and down quite a bit and is reminiscent of a found footage production. The bright use of color is an ode to Van Gogh’s work, but sometimes comes across as quite kitsch (read: artificial). It’s really cool that there are filmmakers like Schnabel who try to do new things and stick their necks out. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work out well in this case. The somewhat strange camera work of ‘At Eternity’s Gate’ does not come out well….

Schnabel has the misfortune that a year before his film was released a better production – ‘Loving Vincent’ – about the painter appeared. ‘At Eternity’s Gate’ isn’t a bad movie, but it feels like mustard after dinner. An annoying observation, because the phenomenal game of the always reliable Dafoe deserved more. With a better script and less daring camerawork, this film would have made more of an impact.