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May 2001, Week 5

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From:
Donald Larsson <[log in to unmask]>
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Date:
Thu, 31 May 2001 10:24:23 -0500
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Robert Hunt replies:


> a few obvious selections...The Last Supper scene in Viridiana and the
> extraordinary Van Gogh sequence in Kurosawa's dreams...
> Wenders quotes Hopper's "Nighthawks" in "The End of Violence"..

"Nighthawks" shows up in a lot of places (including teasers and
promos for the TCM channel and AMC)--see, for instance, the Steve
Martin film version of PENNIES FROM HEAVEN.

The Last Supper gets cited in many places as well. See the "Suicide Is
Painless" scene from Altman's MASH as one example.

Several people mention Greenaway, although I don't believe that any
cited THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE AND HER LOVER.

One recent film that does a wonderful job of "enacting" art is Saura's
GOYA IN BORDEAUX, which features scenes lifted straight out of the
artist's work, especially the Disasters of War series.

Fuselli's "Nightmare" is featured in Ken Russell's GOTHIC.

In the otherwise dull-witted WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, a CGI Heaven and
Hell are both inspired by the paintings of Annabella Sciorra's
character.

David's "The Death of Marat" is staged in several films, including THE
RED VIOLIN (and

Somewhat more borderline examples:
A slide seems to ooze blood at the beginning of Roeg's DON'T LOOK NOW.

SOMEWHERE IN TIME has Christopher Reeve going back in time to find the
original subject of a painting. Also see PORTRAIT OF JENNIE, LAURA,
VERTIGO, and ALL THE VERMEERS IN NEW YORK for paintings that inspire
obsession with their subjects.

Maxim De Winter comes unhinged when he sees his wife in the costume
worn by an ancestor in a family painting in Hitchcock's REBECCA.

Rod Serling's series NIGHT GALLERY kicked off each episode with a
painting that "inspired" it in some way.

Not quite the same thing, but Minnelli's musicals AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
and GIGI feature settings that are lifted almost straight from
Impressionist paintings. A similar tack is taken with several films
about artists like Van Gogh (even including LUST FOR LIFE!) from the
late 19th century. Some of that is done in the original MOULIN ROUGE,
with Jose Ferrer as Toulouse-Lautrec, and from the previews, it would
seem to be true of Baz Luhrman's MOULIN ROUGE, opening this weekend.

THE CELL has several settings based on paintings.

Peter Watkin's EDVARD MUNCH doesn't actually bring the paintings to
"life" but does create the settings that inspired many of them.

I've only seen clips and stills, but Derek Jarman's films (especially
CARAVAGGIO) might be worth a look.

There are the tableaux vivants staged in such silent films as BIRTH OF
A NATION.

And, of course, there are all those Warner Bros. and MGM cartoons,
where a character runs into a painting only to have the pursuer smack
into the brick wall behind it!


Don Larsson
-----------------------------------------------------------
Donald F. Larsson
English Department, AH 230
Minnesota State University
Mankato, MN 56001

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