Final Portrait (2017)

Directed by: Stanley Tucci | 90 minutes | biography, comedy, drama | Actors: Armie Hammer, Geoffrey Rush, Clémence Poésy, Tony Shalhoub, James Faulkner, Sylvie Testud, Kerry Shale, Philippe Spall

Would there still be artists without a film biography? Probably not, while the biographies of some artists (van Gogh, Rembrandt) can fill entire festivals. Are we still waiting for the next film biography of the next artist? Like ‘Final Portrait’?

In this small American production we meet Alberto Giacometti (1901 – 1966) and his entourage of brother, wife and mistress. The film tells of a few weeks in 1964 when the painter and sculptor makes a portrait of the young American writer James Lord. During the sessions with the author and during a few trips to the Parisian catering industry, we get to know Giacometti better as an artist and a person.

This fifth film from director Stanley Tucci does everything right that a comparable artist biography like ‘Rodin’ does wrong. In ‘Final Portrait’ the artist is not an oracular demigod, but a human being of flesh and blood. The studio looks like a craftsman’s workshop, the sculptures are not sacred objects (but sometimes they are fine coat racks) and the life of a bohemian has nothing to do with candlelight, absinthe and whores, who prefer to pose naked all day long.

At the same time, these artist clichés do play a role, but on a more human level. When the painting doesn’t quite work out, the artist doesn’t raise his arms to heaven and he doesn’t call on higher powers, but he grumbles a dejected fuck and grabs his cigarettes. The artist does have a prostitute as mistress, but she is more of a cheerful and carefree type, not a nude model kissing the great painter’s feet. And, of course, Giacometti has an opinion about colleagues (Picasso pompous, Chagall a house painter), but their rivalry is more like competition between tradesmen than a holy battle between Great Artists. You learn that the human being Giacometti is less commonplace than we mortals, through his view of making a portrait, his handling of money, the way he fantasized himself to sleep as a child.

‘Final Portrait’ is a convincing biographical sketch, with above-average acting and thoughtful, artless dialogues. There is also a lot of humor while the monochrome visuals (sometimes interspersed with bright colors) fit perfectly with Giacometti’s art. One would like every artist’s biography to be as intelligent and true as ‘Final Portrait’.