LOVING VINCENT

Poland/UK, 2017, 94 minutes, Colour.
Douglas Booth, Jerome Flynn, Robert Gulaczyk, Chris O' Dowd, Saiorse Ronan, John Sessions, Aidan Turner, Eleanor Tomlinson, Helen Mc Crory,
Directed by Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman.

Vincent van Gogh is considered the father of Modern Art. He is well beloved not only in the art world but by the public. While he had minimal sales of his paintings during his short life, 37 years, his paintings are now sold for millions of dollars. It could be said that everybody is loving Vincent.

However, the title of this film comes from the end of his letter to the wife of his brother, Theo: “… Your loving Vincent�, highlighting his care for his brother and for his sister-in-law.

Over the years there have been quite a number of films about van Gogh, feature films and documentaries. During the 1950s, Kirk Douglas portrayed him in Lust for Life. Later Robert Altman directed Tim Roth in Vincent & Theo. In the 1980s, Australian director, Paul Cox, made a film with the screenplay compiled from van Gogh’s letters, spoken by John Hurt, with a simple title, Vincent.

This present film is being promoted as the first oil-painted animation film, incorporating the work of 125 artists. It is quite a project – and it is quite impressive. The director, Dorota Kobiela, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

As the credits open, there are swirls of paint, a variety of colours, myriad shapes – all in the recognisable van Gogh style. This continues throughout the film, each sequence painted as if it were a van Gogh. This is a continual reminder throughout the film of the work of the artist, his vision, his colours, his response to nature in the south of France, the flowers, the sky. The screenplay incorporates many of his paintings – and there were 800 over comparatively few years – so that the audience is continually conscious of the work of the artist, affected by its impact.

Yet, the film is a narrative. And there are quite a number of characters from the painter himself to his brother, to a young man, Armin, searching for Theo to give him his brother’s last letter, the postman, the doctor who took in Van Gogh, his daughter, his housekeeper, the proprietor at the local inn…

For those not familiar with van Gogh’s portraits, it is something of a revelation during the final credits where the painted portraits are juxtaposed with the photos of the cast who portray the particular characters, remarkable likenesses. The cast includes Chris O’ Dowd, Douglas Booth, Aidan Turner, Helen Mc Crory, Saiorse Ronan and Robert Gulaczyk as the artist himself.

It should also be noted that the film is a Polish production with cast from Poland and from the United Kingdom.

In some ways, the film serves as crime detection, focus on the mental state of van Gogh, the episode of his cutting off of his ear, his joy in painting, his reliance on his brother to provide him with art materials, the suddenness of his death, taunting by local youth, the possession of a gun, his work with the local doctor who was also an art enthusiast, the admiration by his daughter, his wound, self-inflicted, the strange angle of the shot, his lingering before his death.

This means that Loving Vincent provides an overview of Van Gogh’s life, the years of his painting in France, the background of his family, the mental disturbance that plagued him, his premature death. But the film also takes us into the artistic world of van Gogh, his sensitivity, his sensibilities and his creativity.

During the final credits, Don Maclean’s Starry, Starry night is played – and never seemed more poignant.


1. The status of van Gogh? Reputation, in his time? 800 paintings, during eight years, dead at 37? The father of Modern Art?

2. The film offering a portrait, visual, and the drama? The overall effect for the audience?

3. The film as painterly, the opening credits, the visual style, van Gogh and his strokes, colours, motion?

4. The ending, van Gogh’s portraits of each of the characters, the photographs of the cast?

5. The British and international cast? Voices and accents?

6. The initial information, van Gogh’s life, mental condition, age of death? Dutch background? Working in France? In the village, the friendship with the doctor? The various women? Going to the prostitutes, the cutting off of his ear? His partnership with Paul Gauguin, their falling out? The youngsters in the village and their bullying van Gogh? The importance of Theo in his life, friend, buying his paints and equipment, and Theo’s death?

7. Van Gogh as a prolific letter writer? The letter for Theo and the framework of the story in this film?

8. Armin, his portrait, the reputation of his father, the letter for Theo, not knowing of Theo’s death? His sense of mission? The conversations with the postman, filling in the background, his drinking, the train ride, the beginning of his quest?

9. The gallery of characters, and their memories of van Gogh?

10. 1891, in vivid van Gogh colours, van Gogh landscapes, the pictures, the fields, the stars, the crows, the chair, the flowers…?

11. The encounters, Pere Peguy, the girl at the bar, Louise, Marguerite, the two doctors, the boat man, the boys in the village?

12. The women, the girl at the hotel, being proprietor, welcoming Armin, giving him information, the interactions with van Gogh? The contrast with Louise, age, housekeeping, in service of the doctor, her hostility towards van Gogh? The initial hostility towards Armin? Meeting at the church? A religious perspective? Marguerite, the doctor’s daughter, playing the piano, her regard for van Gogh, admiring his genius, recognising it, her regrets at not affirming him sufficiently, going to his grave, the flowers?

13. The boatman, friendship with van Gogh, the discussion with Armin? His contribution?

14. The doctor who treated van Gogh, the bullet in the stomach, his theory about van Gogh being shot, the angle for the bullet?

15. The doctor taking in van Gogh, friendship, his wanting to be an artist, copying van Gogh’s work? The discussions, the difficulties? The role of Theo? Theo and his illness, syphilis, not long to live? Angrily telling this news to van Gogh, van Gogh thinking himself burden, getting the gun, shooting himself, lingering for two days, his death? The doctor in attendance?

16. The screenplay moving into detection, with the doctor and his theories about the angle of the bullet, demonstrating it? The boys, the mentally impaired boy, the bullying, his having a gun? (And the later information about the boy and Vincent and the gun?)

17. Armin, returning to the postman, reflecting on his mission, Theo’s wife sending the copy of the letter, Vincent’s concern – and the final signing this letter, your loving Vincent.