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Movies / On DVD / Séraphine
Séraphine

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Séraphine (2008)

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Reviews Counted:84

Fresh:75

Rotten:9

Average Rating:7.5/10

Consensus: Seraphine is a well-crafted French film that effectively captures one woman's experience with art, religion, and mental illness, and features a brilliant performance from Yolande Moreau.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 2 hrs 1 min

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Jun 5, 2009 Limited

Box Office: $557,682

Synopsis: Based on a true story, Seraphine centers on Séraphine de Senlis (Moreau), a simple and profoundly devout housekeeper whose brilliantly colorful canvases now adorn some of the most famous galleries... Based on a true story, Seraphine centers on Séraphine de Senlis (Moreau), a simple and profoundly devout housekeeper whose brilliantly colorful canvases now adorn some of the most famous galleries in the world. Wilhelm Uhde (Tukur), a German art critic and collector - he was the first Picasso buyer and discoverer of naïve primitive painter Le Douanier Rousseau - discovers her paintings while she is working for him as a maid in the beautiful countryside of Senlis near Paris in the early part of the 20th century. A moving and unexpected relationship develops between the avant-garde art dealer and the visionary cleaning lady. Martin Provost’s fictionalized and poignant portrait of this forgotten painter is a testament to creativity and the resilience of one woman’s spirit.--© Music Box Films [More]

Starring: Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur, Anne Bennent, Genevieve Mnich

Starring: Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur, Anne Bennent, Genevieve Mnich, Nico Rogner, Adelaide Leroux, Serge Lariviere, Francoise Lebrun

Director: Martin Provost

Director: Martin Provost
Screenwriter: Martin Provost, Marc Abdelnour
Producer: Milena Poylo, Gilles Sacuto
Studio: Music Box Films

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Release:

Jun 5, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region [unknown]
  • Keep Case
  • Anamorphic Widescreen

Audio:

  • (unspecified) - French, Canadian
  • (unspecified) - German
  • Subtitles - English
  • Subtitles - French, Canadian
 
 
 
 

Reviews for Séraphine

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
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This true story dragged out for so long that I ceased to care.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
11/27/09
Alex Zane
Alex Zane
Sun Online

Boasts a raw and convincing performance by Yolande Moreau along with exquisite cinematography, but it often drags and suffers from lack of insight into the life and mind of Séraphine which keeps it from being an emotionally resonating experience.

Full Review Source: NYC Movie Guru | comment Comment
06/06/09
Avi Offer
Avi Offer
NYC Movie Guru

It's even-tempered, evenly-paced and decidedly middlebrow.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
07/10/09
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Click for full review

Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses | comment Comment
05/10/09
Joseph Proimakis
Joseph Proimakis
Movies for the Masses

The film ends up something of a muddle that strives too hard to wear a ‘quality’ tag upon its sleeve.

Full Review Source: Little White Lies | comment Comment
11/27/09
Laurence Boyce
Laurence Boyce
Little White Lies

Depends on your levels of Christmas spirit. Nativity either glorifies the charming amateurishness of the British school play or celebrates the slapdash incompetence of the British film industry.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment 1 Comment
11/27/09
Matt McNally
Matt McNally
Channel 4 Film

It's like reading the introductory essay in an exhibition catalogue, except that it takes two hours. Personally, I couldn't stop thinking of Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent.

Full Review Source: Independent on Sunday | comment Comment
12/04/09
Nicholas Barber
Nicholas Barber
Independent on Sunday

Rather painterly and a bit distant. It never digs into the messiest of either the artist's or her patron's lives.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
07/17/09
Rob Lowman
Rob Lowman
Los Angeles Daily News

Here's one that feels like homework.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Weekly | comment Comment
07/25/09
Sean Burns
Sean Burns
Philadelphia Weekly

Séraphine doesn’t mess with the formula but the script allows plenty of awkward details to remain and we’re allowed to decide for ourselves if fame was a godsend for her.

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
11/27/09
This is London

A moving, distinctly French tale, this sumptuous production is made complete with a brilliant performance by leading lady Yolande Moreau.

Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia) | comment Comment
09/22/09
FILMINK (Australia)

The energies of Séraphine are devoted to examining the alchemy by which perception is transformed into vision.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
06/05/09
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Moreau is bewitching -- she simply breathes her role, without a hint of vanity.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
06/03/09
Adam Markovitz
Adam Markovitz
Entertainment Weekly

Scores points for actually investing time in scenes depicting the extent to which she worked on her art.

Full Review Source: Scotsman | comment Comment
11/27/09
Alistair Harkness
Alistair Harkness
Scotsman

Moreau’s marvellous performance captures the vulnerabilities of a woman who never dares to dream that her work might be taken seriously and who seemed to spend a lifetime poised between the call of greatness and the threat of madness.

Full Review Source: Daily Express | comment Comment
11/27/09
Allan Hunter
Allan Hunter
Daily Express

Provost and cowriter Marc Abdelnour explore the mutable boundaries between spirituality, naivete, genius, and madness, showing how the two outsiders and polar opposites cultivated a mutual understanding.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
12/17/09
Andrea Gronvall
Andrea Gronvall
Chicago Reader

As far as biopics of painters go, Séraphine is one of the very best

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
09/19/09
Andrew L. Urban
Andrew L. Urban
Urban Cinefile

The film is a commendably worthy endeavor, and I am almost ashamed that my ingrained hedonistic attitude toward movies prevents me from recommending Séraphine more enthusiastically.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
06/10/09
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Next to Demme’s expressionism and Troell’s realism, Provost’s good film is banal.

Full Review Source: New York Press | comment Comment
06/03/09
Armond White
Armond White
New York Press

We are ... made privy to the very reverie, that state of almost beatific hypnosis, where artists find sanctuary and are compelled to create.

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
07/19/09
Beverly Berning
Beverly Berning
culturevulture.net
 
 
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