Review by Gary Tooze

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• Jacques Becker and the Artistic Condition, a 55-minute documentary on the making of Montparnasse 19 featuring interviews with Anouk Aimée, Françoise Fabian and Jean Becker (57:29)
• Newly filmed appreciation of the film by Ginette Vincendeau, author of The BFI Companion to French Cinema and Paris in the Cinema: Beyond the Flâneur (19:48)
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector s booklet containing new writing by David Jenkins

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Description: Montparnasse 19, a film about the tragic final years in the life of Italian painter and sculptor Amadeo Modigliani, was itself beset by tragedy. Max Ophuls, the famed director of Letter from an Unknown Woman and Le Plaisir, died during its production, leaving his friend Jacques Becker to complete the picture. Its lead performer too, the great French actor Gérard Philippe, would succumb to cancer just over a year after its release.

In tracing the latter part of Modigliani s life, Montparnasse 19, focuses on the key figures during his time in Paris his patron Léopold Zborowski (played by Gérard Séty) and two muses, Beatrice Hastings (Lilli Palmer) and Jeanne Hébuterne (Anouk Aimée) and his gradual descent into alcoholism and drug addiction. The end results, both hauntingly beautiful and savagely ironic, are really quite remarkable. A fitting tribute to the outstanding careers of Ophuls and Philippe, and another excellent entry in the equally superb filmography of Becker, a filmmaker who is finally getting his due.

 

 

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Jacques Becker and the Artistic Condition is a 55-minute documentary on the making of Montparnasse 19 featuring interviews with Anouk Aimée, Françoise Fabian and Jean Becker. It is in French with optional English subtitles. There is also a newly filmed appreciation of the film by Ginette Vincendeau, author of The BFI Companion to French Cinema and Paris in the Cinema: Beyond the Flâneur. It runs short of 20-minutes but is quite good - love her voice. The package has a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin and for the first pressing you get a collector's booklet containing new writing by David Jenkins.

BOTTOM LINE:
Montparnasse 19 is a very interesting bio-pic of one of the more enigmatic, French-residing, artists of his era. Amedeo Modigliani's style was only recognized, like many of the masters, after his death ( at only 35-years of age). The film doesn't delve into his beginnings or, unfortunately, his sculptures - essentially focusing on the last year of his life where alcohol had dominated his downfall. Nice to see the support from Lilli Palmer, Lino Ventura and the stunning Anouk Aimée.  The Arrow Video Blu-ray provides an excellent a/v presentation with very appreciated supplements. I thoroughly enjoyed this and would highly recommend to those keen on 'a portrait of the artist' films. It is dedicated to the memory of Max Ophuls.

Gary Tooze

November 25th, 2017

Also available on Blu-ray with English subtitles, Region FREE, from Gaumont: