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Klimt * Raoul Ruiz * 2007

It seems that this film has had releases since March 2006, but exactly a week ago it premiered in New York with John Malkovich (who plays Klimt) present. I saw it a day later in that very theatre (the IFC Center). The whole event proved to be quite a spectacle. First we got to see a Japanese short film of which I don’t remember the name nor the director. Then we got some ‘rockumentary’ previews, but also a notion that David Lynch’s “Eraserhead” is coming back to the cinemas and there will be a cinema documentary about David Lynch (also see the book reviews section for a Lynch book that I ran into). Nothing much could go wrong after that! The film “Klimt” is of course about the French painter Gustav Klimt and a bit about his circle of friends. It isn’t quite a documentary of biography; as a matter of fact, the film seems to be devoid of a story or even a logical order. There is some strange filming, weird scenes going back and forth in time and it all seems to be the illusions (or flashbacks) of a sick man. During the film you get to see how Klimt got to know his wife, how he finds and treats his models, colleagues, friends and enemies. Entertaining and maybe a bit too strange for some, but I personally like the film a lot.
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