Final Portrait review: Celebrated character actor Stanley Tucci steps behind the camera once again for this sweet-natured true story about Swiss painter and sculptor Alberto Giacometti.
Final Portrait review by Paul Heath, Berlin Film Festival 2017.
Final Portrait review
Guiding us through this journey, which captures a very small period of time in the life of Giacometti (Geoffrey Rush), is Armie Hammer‘s American, James Lord. It’s 1960s Paris and Giacometti has agreed to paint a portrait of Lord before he flies back to New York. Hammer’s voice-over informs us in the film’s very early scenes that Giacometti has said that completion of the task will be brief; possibly just a couple of hours, but it becomes immediately evident that this is definitely not the case, and a delay in proceedings causes Lord to postpone his return Stateside. The artist’s strive for perfection is the main cause, but there’s also the distractions of his wife Annette (Sylvie Testud), prostitute/ model/ muse Caroline (Clémence Poésy) and brother Diego (Tony Shalhoub) to contend with.
Tucci’s film, which he also wrote, is one that is hugely enjoyable throughout, mostly due to the very well-painted portrait of the troubled artist and sculptor by Rush. He’s very rarely been better than he is here as the sweary perfectionist, who can’t quite complete, the actor delivering his performance in both English and French. His physical comparison to Giacometti is also uncanny, and it seems that this was a role that he was always destined to play – he is absolutely a delight to watch in every scene. Hammer continues on his journey to balance big-budget fare with carefully selected indie turns with a subtle, though well delivered turn as Lord, and the dynamic between him and Rush works wonderfully. Posey, Testud and particularly Tony Shalhoub’s performances are all also very good, and although he doesn’t appear, Tucci’s stamp is all over it – both in the style of writing and the comedic undertones of his approach – it truly is a very, very good debut piece.
While the film moves in cycles as Giacometti’s process is constantly duplicated, the film never feels repetitive, though when the end does eventually arrive, it comes very abruptly. Final Portrait has some nice exterior scenes set in sixties’ Paris, but the majority is staged in Giacometti’s Montparnasse studio, which has been gloriously recreated for the film with meticulous attention to detail. A tip of the hat must go to the film’s production designer, but also to Danny Cohen’s (The Danish Girl, Room) camera, which captures every inch of it.
Final Portrait is a superb 90 minutes of cinema from an accomplished actor who, once again, shows that he’s as comfortable and as talented behind the camera as much as he is in front of it. Truly wonderful, entertaining stuff.
Final Portrait review by Paul Heath at the Berlinale – Berlin Film Festival 2017.
Final Portrait is currently awaiting a UK release.
