A film of vitality, with imagery as haunting and romantic as it is intense.
Modigliani (2005)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:10
Fresh:1
Rotten:9
Average Rating:3.3/10
Consensus: Nearly everyone is miscast in this disjointed and slow-moving portrait of Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani.
Theatrical Release:May 13, 2005 Limited
Synopsis: The story takes place in Paris in the years after the First World War. Modigliani, a Jew, has fallen in love with Jeanne (Elsa Zylberstein), a young and beautiful Catholic girl. The couple have an... The story takes place in Paris in the years after the First World War. Modigliani, a Jew, has fallen in love with Jeanne (Elsa Zylberstein), a young and beautiful Catholic girl. The couple have an illegitimate child, and Jeanne's bigoted parents send the baby to a faraway convent to be raised by nuns. Modigliani is distraught and needs money to rescue and raise his child. The answer arrives in the shape of Paris' annual art competition. Prize money and a guaranteed career await the winner. Neither Modigliani, nor his dearest friend and rival Picasso (Omid Djalili) have ever entered the competition, believing that it is beneath true artists like themselves. But push comes to shove with the welfare of his child on the line, and Modigliani signs up for the competition in a drunken and drug-induced tirade. Picasso follows suit and all of Paris is aflutter with excitement at who will win. With the balance of his relationship with Jeanne on the line, Modigliani tackles this work with the hopes of creating a masterpiece, and knows that all the artists of Paris are doing the same. Emotionally-charged and bathed in absinthe green, MODIGLIANI is the decadent portrayal of this tortured genius, his debilitating addictions, and overwhelming passion. The film delivers nothing short of a deeply heartfelt tribute to the artist. -- © Official Site [More]
Starring: Andy Garcia, Omid Djalili, Elsa Zylberstein, Udo Kier
Starring: Andy Garcia, Omid Djalili, Elsa Zylberstein, Udo Kier, Hyppolite Girarot, Eva Herzigova, Miriam Margolyes
Director: Mick Davis
Director: Mick Davis
Screenwriter: Mick Davis
Producer: Philippe Martinez, Andre Djaoui, Stephanie Martinez-Campeau, Alan Latham
Studio: Innovation Film Group
Get This Movie
Reviews for Modigliani
Modigliani is slow, shamefully cliched and disjointed as a cubist portrait.
Thanks to writer-director Mick Davis, the film, like its subject, dies young.
It's hard to take this oddball movie seriously, right down to the undisguised streetwise-American accent of Andy Garcia as the Italian Jew Amedeo Modigliani.
The best and maybe the only use to be made of the catastrophic screen biography Modigliani is to serve as a textbook outline of how not to film the life of a legendary artist.
Sadly, instead of situating the l'amour fou in the artistic ferment of the period (1917-1920), Davis twists the period to fit the story.
Modigliani may have been noted for his drunken volatility and arrogance, but once you get a dozen years or so of Behind the Musics and E! True Hollywood Stories behind you, it's hard to get worked up about that sort of thing anymore.
Failing to invest famous characters with the depth to break free of a made-for-TV feel, earnest misfire does make one want to read up on the real Modigliani.
Both Modi and Jeanne are genuinely tragic figures. But the movie so trivializes them as adolescents, lacking control of their own emotions, that their tragedy never takes hold.
Latest News for Modigliani
August 18, 2005:
Critical Consensus: "Red Eye," "The 40 Year-Old Virgin" Soar
This week at the movies brings four studies in aviation. What happens when you're trapped on a plane with a creepy seatmate? (See "Red Eye.") Is it ever too late for... More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Around The Network
- Modigliani at Rotten Tomatoes
- Modigliani at AskMen
Fresh Links
Featured

Techland lists the best Sci-Fi films of this decade.

Moviefone takes a look back at the biggest stinkers of the past 10 years.

The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.

Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill offers his thoughts on what the best decade for film was.

In the AV Club's "Scenic Routes," Mike D'Angelo reminisces about the Tim Burton film.
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!



Top Critic


