S
Director: Martin Provost
Starring: Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur, Anne Bennent, Geneviève Mnich, Nico Rogner
What makes Seraphine, directed and co-written by Martin Provost, so exceptional is that it neither condescends to nor romanticizes its subject.
It "explains" nothing but feels everything. It reminds me of two other films: Bresson's "Mouchette," about a poor girl victimized by a village, and Karen Gehre's "Begging Naked," shown at Ebertfest this year, about a woman whose art is prized even as she lives in Central Park.
Moreau is bewitching -- she simply breathes her role, without a hint of vanity.
What Moreau does with this role is as inscrutably moving as anything Séraphine Louis painted.
The mystery of Séraphine de Senlis -- who died in a mental hospital in 1942 and whose work survives in some of the worldâ??s leading museums -- is left intact at the end of Séraphine. Rather than trying to explain Séraphine, the film accepts her.
Yolande Moreau
Cairo International Film Festival (2008)
Best Actress
Chlotrudis Awards (2010)
Best Actress (Meilleure actrice)
César Awards, France (2009)
Best Actress
European Film Awards (2009)
Best Film
Ghent International Film Festival (2008)
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