PabloPicassoPeintreStill04Introduction

“Pablo Picasso Peintre” is a documentary film made by the French director Frédéric Rossif in 1981. The film, which gives a unique view on the life and art of the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso includes an original score by Vangelis. The film was released in France on the 3rd of March 1982, and is one of the several documentaries that Rossif made about influential painters, such as "Georges Mathieu Ou La Fureur d'Être" (1971), "Georges Braque Ou Le Temps Différent" (1974) and "Morandi" (1989). Sometimes the documentary is incorrectly referred to as part of a trilogy titled “Cantique Des Créatures”, but that is a mistake, as that name refers to the first documentary that Frédéric Rossif and Vangelis collaborated on in 1970.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) is the world-famous Spanish painter and sculptor that needs no introduction. His work can be classified into several stages, from African art to synthetic cubism, neoclassicism and surrealism. By 1936, the Spanish Civil War had profoundly affected Picasso, the expression of which culminated in his painting Guernica (1937). From the late 1940s he lived in the South of France. In 1950 Frédéric Rossif and Pablo PIcasso first worked together on a short film "La Mort De Charlotte Corday", at the occasion of which Picasso made a painting on the face of Rossif.

Rossif’s documentary film is an audiovisual collage of paintings, historical events from the period when the paintings were created, phrases, photographic and film documents of the painter, landscapes and short interviews with people who knew him. Throughout the film Vangelis' abstract score underlines the art of the famous painter.

Unfortunately “Pablo Picasso Peintre” was only officially released on a VHS video in Japan, now long out of print. The film is sometimes still screened at art museums or film archives in France. Apart from that there are known recordings of television broadcasts, such as this one from Germany. This film really deserves a proper digital release!

 

PabloPicassoPeintrePosterDetails and credits

  • Title: Pablo Picasso Peintre
  • Country: France
  • Year: 1981
  • Format: 35 mm color
  • Release date: 3rd of March 1982
  • Length: 80 minutes
  • Directed by Frédéric Rossif.
  • Assistent Directors: Jean-Charles Cuttoli, Pierre Pouchoulon and Christophe Salachas.
  • Music by Vangelis Papathanassiou.
  • Screenplay: Ingrid Richon
  • Text by Hélène Parmelin.
  • Dialog by Suzanne Flon and Pierre Vaneck.
  • Cinematography: Daniel Barreau
  • Camera: Yves Pouffary
  • Sound engineers: Patrick Bordes and Georges Vaglio.
  • Editing: Geneviève Winding
  • Assistant montage: Marie-Noëlle Chesnais
  • Assistant engineers: Pascal Gennessaux, Jean-Paul da Costa and Christian Vivier.
  • Decorator: Raveno Gomez
  • Producer: Michelle Wiart
  • Assistent producer: Jean-Charles Cuttoli, Christiane Roussel
  • Producer (Spain): Roberto Bodegas
  • Executive producer: Jean Frydman
  • Produced by Télé-Hachette, Films A2 and Alfaro Films Madrid

 

PabloPicassoPeintreVHSFrontMedia

VHS

  • AT International ATV-70106 Japan (NTSC)

 

Synopsis

  • "A film about Picasso played by Picasso: Rossif locked the painter in a kaleidoscope, and by shaking the box of images, scattered all the fragments of the painter's life and work at a dizzying pace." (L'Aurore, 3rd of March 1982)

  • "Frédéric Rossif has pulled off a masterstroke: making a film about Picasso as if no one had ever done so before. His gaze first fixed on that of the painter, as if it contained both his work, his era, all of painting, and our own gaze. From this fourfold conjunction emerged a dazzling exercise in style, motivated perhaps by the idea that Picasso's work has no beginning and no end, encompassing the entire 20th century - not in terms of chronology, but in terms of its violence, its conquests, its coups de force, and its passions." (Le Matin, 3rd of March 1982)

  • "This film, whose lyricism is enhanced by beautiful music by Vangelis Papathanassiou and whose landscapes of Spain and the sea give it a special atmosphere, makes it easier for us to enter the world of one of the greatest artists of our time. The fact that its production spanned thirty years allowed Rossif to present a more complete work, with the master's last paintings providing an eloquent conclusion." (France Soir, 8th of March 1982)

 

Links

 

Gallery

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