When it was time to respond to watching a 4 HOUR film from the 90’s on the creation of a painting, Substack was the only platform that made sense.
Here’s the Wikipedia on it:
La Belle Noiseuse . 'The Beautiful Troublemaker') is a 1991 drama film directed by Jacques Rivette and starring Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin and Emmanuelle Béart. Loosely adapted from the 1831 short story Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu (The Unknown Masterpiece) by Honoré de Balzac,[1] and set in present-day France, it tells how a famous old artist is stimulated to come out of retirement and do one last painting of a beautiful young woman. The film won the Grand Prix at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.
A better synopsis of this film is Roger Ebert’s glowing review:
Jacques Rivette's "La Belle Noiseuse" (1991) is the best film I have ever seen about the physical creation of art, and about the painful bond between an artist and his muse.
Did I watch all 4 hours interrupted? No. (There IS a half way mark with a title marking it, so you can do this film in two chunks.) I watched in several spurts staring in a delirium.
Lately I have taken to waking up in the middle of the night, sometimes I can fall asleep, but sometimes the thoughts swirl and I am forced to rise and distract my busy mind. Most of the time I grab a book and read. Some days when that doesn’t work I try finding film that forces me to think. Scrolling through Kanopy the film service I get FREE with my library card, I stumbled upon this film early one 4AM.
It’s compelling to watch a the artist search for that something so elusive, he catches glimpses of it now and then, and eventually works through to finally make his painting. I won’t spoil it for you but there are some twists along the way.
I have used my creative energy over the years to make a decent living, in the service to others. I didn't foster stretching the creative muscles I needed to pursue a fine art practise. Now at this stage of my life, with the freedom to do so, do I have anything to say? Is pursuing it, worth the sacrifices it might need? or does it need sacrifice to be valid? Is the muse positive or negative force depending on where you are in your life? This film creates so many questions…
