DALILAND
US, 2022, 97 minutes, Colour.
Ben Kingsley, Barbara Sukowa, Ezra Miller, Christopher Briney, Rupert Graves, Andreja Pejic, Alexander Beyer, Mark McKenna, Zachary Nachbar-Seckel, Avital Lvova.
Directed by Mary Harron.
Daliland, the idiosyncratic world of Spanish artist, Salvador Dali. Dali, who died in 1989, and who might well be very pleased with this cinema portrait but not very pleased to realise that, with the passing of time, the 21st-century audience may not know who he is, or was. This is an opportunity to become aware of this most eccentric person, self-centred and arrogant, who achieved a great deal in the world of art, fostering his own publicity.
This film opens tantalisingly with Dali himself on a talk show, immediately recognisable with his upturned moustache, with the contestants blindfold, asking questions – to which Dali says yes to everything. He does look like Dali himself but here is Ben Kingsley, 40 years after his Oscar for playing Gandhi, showing how versatile he can be when embodying unusual characters. It is an excellent Ben Kingsley performance. And he is matched by Barbara Sukowa playing Gala, his wife of many decades, a Russian émigré to France, 10 years older than Dali but with him from 1929 to her death in 1982, demanding on him, protective of him, forcing him to work when he was reluctant, but with an eye to younger men whose careers she promoted.
In checking with sources on Dali and his life and work, a very long entry and detailed in Wikipedia, for instance, for quick research, many aspects of Dali’s character and behaviour described there are incorporated into the film, into Dali’s talk about himself, in the portrait and behaviour of Gala, his hypochondria, food issues, sexuality, voyeurism…
But, this is a dramatised portrait with fictional elements. The principal element is that of the character, Jim, Christopher Briney, an earnest young man from Idaho who begins work in New York for Dali’s agent, attracts Dali’s attention, calling him St Sebastian, but not attracting Gala’s favour. As he goes to work with Dali, meant to keep an eye on him to keep him working for an immediate show, he allows himself to be seduced by this other planet as he calls it, intrigued by the parties, the flamboyant guests, sexual overtones, the New York world of the mid-1970s. We have seen Jim at the beginning of the film, in 1984, watching the Dali show on television, so this is a flashback, his experience of Dali, his genuine love of art but realising he could never be an artist, but then the victim of the whims of Dali, Gala and his agent.
In 1985, he makes a trip to Spain, to visit Dali, caught up in various schemes whereby art paper was bought, Dali signing the pages and then lithographs and prints made of the art and sold as the genuine article (also referenced in Wikipedia). He does his best to help Dali whom he admires but is ousted by Gala.
The screenplay highlights some of the past between Dali and Gala, some flashbacks with Ezra Miller as Dali and Avital Lvova as Gala. But, at the end, Jim visits the artist who is in health decline, to give him a book that he had compiled of the various signatures that Dali used for his work. It emerges that Jim, no longer seduced by this world, runs a small gallery, his love of art.
The screenplay was written by John Walsh and directed by his wife, Mary Harron. In looking at Mary Harron’s filmology, she has brought her audience into some bizarre and exotic worlds, I Shot Andy Warhol, his strange New York world, especially the 1960s; The Notorious Bettie Page, a model who was investigated by the American Senate; and a film version of Bret Easton Ellis’s tale of a predatory young banker, American Psycho. She brings her intrigue with these offbeat worlds, the touches of decadence, to her interpretation of Daliland.
1. Audience knowledge of Dali and his art and career?
2. Salvador Dali as a 20th-century figure, art, celebrity, multicultural?
3. The director, her career, her interests, a New York focus?
4. The focus on Dali in his old age, intimations of the past, the flashbacks of himself and Gala, Spain, Art and career, Luis Bunuel, influence in Hollywood, the visits to the United States?
5. The opening device, the television quiz, the introduction to Dali, his self-confidence?
6. Ben Kingsley’s performance, incarnating Dali? In himself, his character, self-absorption, moods? His relationship with Gala? Issues of sexuality? Art, painting, exhibition, pressures and timetables? His whims? Food, socials, antisocial, his agents, assistants, the media?
7. Or should have Gala, her age, older than Dali, the relationship, over the decades, her temperament, lovers, fostering careers, Jesus and Superstar?
8. Jim, the background in Idaho, seeing Dali on television, moving to New York, his work in assisting Dali, keeping him up to the mark? Interactions with Gala, her dislike of him? His being seduced by this New York lifestyle, the characters, the encounters with Lucy, sexuality, the relationship? Dali calling him St Sebastien?
9. New York society, the parties, lavish, sexuality, the presence of Alice Cooper, the presence of Amanda, Jesus and Jesus Christ Superstar? The presence of Captain Moore, his aide?
10. The impact of the flashbacks, brief, the young Dali, the young Gala, in Spain, the meeting, marrying?
11. Dali later retiring to Spain, his life there, career? Returning to sources?
12. Jim, his visit, tracking down Dali, the reaction of Gala? His book with the variety of signatures? Dali using him on his visit?
13. Jim, the aftermath of his experience of Dali and Daliland, managing his art gallery, his future?
14. Insights into the character of Dali, his career, his style of art?
