Whimsical but wonderful - and very worthy of those awards.
Comment
11/27/09
Séraphine (2008)
89
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
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.
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... [More]
Starring: Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur, Anne Bennent, Genevieve Mnich
Director: Martin Provost
Get This Movie
Rent DVD
Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.
Buy DVD
Reviews for Séraphine
Moreau’s stellar performance and the astral intensity of the paintings keep taking us where this story belongs, up into the skies.
11/27/09
The story is both genuinely fascinating and utterly heartbreaking, whilst also making pointed observations about the nature of art and art versus commerce.
11/27/09
Scores points for actually investing time in scenes depicting the extent to which she worked on her art.
11/27/09
Provost's film has few equals in depicting the dangerous territory between artistic inspiration and madness.
11/20/09
Where the film scores -- and scores very highly -- is in the characterizations of Séraphine and Uhde, both of whom emerge as wholly formed complex creations.
10/25/09
Séraphine, an outsider artist before the term was invented, is both a cautionary tale for contemporay artists of all and sundry media and a genuinely moving portrait of the artist as a young(ish) scullery maid.
10/09/09
Moreau's nuanced turn as the title character ensures that the film is not a complete loss. She's very convincing, especially when there arise some questions regarding her mental stability.
10/08/09
It ... works as an intimate story of one woman’s mental instability; the film commendably does not demur from recognizing that whatever powered Séraphine’s art was also responsible for her social awkwardness and institutionalization.
10/08/09
Yolande Moreau plays the industrious but touched washerwoman-turned-painter Séraphine de Senlis with an open-faced conviction that is almost unnerving in its intensity.
10/07/09
If you're in the mood for a gentle, unsentimental film, where the director has made choices that are intelligent and thoughtful, seek this out.
09/24/09
A moving, distinctly French tale, this sumptuous production is made complete with a brilliant performance by leading lady Yolande Moreau.
09/22/09
As far as biopics of painters go, Séraphine is one of the very best
09/19/09
May be about a minor artist, but it's a major success.
09/03/09
...Séraphine's art, religious fervor and mental breakdowns are all accepted as facts which may be witnessed but not explained.
08/22/09
Seraphine, a biopic of the early-20th century French painter Seraphine Louis aka Seraphine de Senlis, is among the best of its kind, thanks in no small part to the utterly believable, vanity-free performance of Yolande Moreau in the title role.
08/21/09
Seraphine is rare in its sympathetic focus on a laborer, yet refined in its execution.
08/19/09
The film belongs to Moreau. Half-derided, half-protected by her village neighbors, her Séraphine is dowdy, willful, gruff, determined: a blend of singing mystic and muttering madwoman.
08/14/09
Relies heavily on Moreau's gripping, continually surprising performance to effectively convey the oracular urgency and fractured, Dionysian mentality of Seraphine de Senlis and her work.
08/08/09
The euphoria, lunacy and transformative intensity of art receive passionate, perhaps immortal treatment in Seraphine, Martin Provost's quietly magical and urgently moving film.
07/31/09
Latest News for Séraphine
June 14, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review 
More...
June 04, 2009:
Critics Consensus: The Hangover Is Certified Fresh
This week at the movies, we've got bachelor party mayhem (The Hangover, starring Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms), space-time continuum wackiness (Land of the Lost, starring Will... More...
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
MSN's Year in Review
Take a look at MSN's choices for the Top 10 films of 2009.
Moviefone's Year End Poll
What were your favorites? Least favorites? The funniest and scariest? Moviefone wants to know!
Tarantino's Characters
Hollywood.com explores why QT's characters resonate so well with audiences.
Top 10 Movies of 2009
TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.
Top 20 of the Decade
Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
RSS Feeds