Klimt (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Klimt is a 2006 Austrian biographical film about the life of the Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt (1862-1918). It was written and directed by Raoul Ruiz, with an English screenplay adaptation by Gilbert Adair. The title role was played by John Malkovich; the cast included Saffron Burrows as the dancer Lea de Castro, Stephen Dillane and Veronica Ferres. The director of photography was Ricardo Aronovich, and the music was composed by Jorge Arriagada.
Klimt's life-story unfolds in the artist's mind as he lies dying of syphilis in a Viennese hospital. Much of the film is centred on Klimt's relationship with Lea de Castro (some say based on Cléo de Mérode), a dancer to whom he is introduced by the film pioneer Georges Melies.
Both a 130 minute long director's cut and a shortened producer's cut of 96 minutes were shown at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival.
Plot
Gustav Klimt's life story unfolds in a series of disjointed sequences in the artist's mind as he lies dying of pneumonia in a Viennese hospital where he is visited by his friend, Egon Schiele (Nikolai Kinski). Themes within the film include Klimt's platonic friendship with Emilie Floege (Veronica Ferres). Much of the film is centred on Klimt's relationship with Lea de Castro (Saffron Burrows), a dancer to whom he is introduced by the film pioneer Georges Méliès.
Reception
Cosmo Landesman, in The Sunday Times, described the film as "frigid and silly" being unnecessarily difficult to follow in the style of Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.
Accolades
The film was shown at the 2006 Moscow International Film Festival where it was nominated for two awards, winning the Russian Film Clubs Federation Award.