Alberto
Giacometti is immortalized on the 100 Swiss Franc note. He also currently holds
the record for the highest auction price received for a work of sculpture—$126
million for L’Homme au doight (Pointing
Man). In today’s art world, these are the highest measures of success, but like
many true artists, Giacometti was plagued by self-doubt. In fact, his particularly
neurotic artistic sensibility made it quite a protracted business to sit for
Giacometti as a model, as an American art critic learns for himself in Stanley
Tucci’s Final Portrait (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.
In
1964, James Lord was already one of the foremost experts on Giacometti’s work
and something of a personal friend. Naturally, he is quite flattered when the
revered Swiss artist asks Lord to sit for him. It will just be two days Giacometti
assures him. It certainly will not conflict with his flight back to New York at
the end of the week. However, as Giacometti obsessively obliterates and
re-paints the portrait, Lord reluctantly agrees to repeatedly reschedule his
flight, at no small expense. While growing increasingly impatient for
Giacometti to finish, Lord nonetheless finds himself drawn into Giacometti’s exclusive
world, observing the weird dynamics of Giacometti’s relationship with his wife
Annette and on-call call-girl Caroline, while forging a fast friendship with
Giacometti’s sculptor brother Diego.
Final Portrait is not exactly the
meatiest film ever produced, but it is intoxicatingly nostalgic and
sophisticated, like a glass of Pernod at a vintage Parisian café. Frankly, it
certainly looks like there were worse fates than getting delayed in Paris circa
1964. (Indeed, Lord only protests intermittently, since among other things, it
allows him to attend the press unveiling of Marc Chagall’s Paris Opera
ceiling).
Geoffrey
Rush might be experiencing a bit of PR turbulence right now, but there is not
denying he is an eerie physical match for Giacometti. The artist’s
eccentricities and insecurities are also perfect for the actor who made his
reputation playing David Helfgott, Inspector Javert, Peter Sellers, the Marquis
de Sade, and the King’s speech therapist, Lionel Logue. You can see pieces of
them all in Giacometti, but Rush gives him a charm of his own that allows the
audience to fully get why Lord keeps sitting for him (frankly, we don’t
understand why he wanted to leave in the first place, but so be it).
Armie
Hammer bears a similarly strong likeness to Lord. He is quite tall in the role,
but he also nicely balances Lord’s youthful enthusiasm and Eastern reserve. Plus,
it is nice to see a member of the hardscrabble Armand Hammer clan finally make
good. This is the first film Tucci directed that he does not also appear in,
but his alter-ego Tony Shalhoub is present and accounted for. In fact, Shalhoub
is quite invaluable grounding the film and injecting some gentle humor as Diego
Giacometti. In contrast, Clémence Poésy does little to elevate the stock
character of Caroline.
Light
like a blonde roast coffee, Final
Portrait is low on stress, but unusually inviting, with credit also due to
Evan Lurie’s lithe, French café society-appropriate music. This should be a
film MoMA eventually revives from time to time, because their regular membership
would enjoy it as much as the film program patrons. Recommended for those who
appreciate fine art and fine living, Final
Portrait opens this Friday (3/23) in New York, at the Angelika Film Center.
