Surviving Picasso

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Surviving Picasso
Surviving Picasso film poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by James Ivory
Screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Based onPicasso: Creator and Destroyer
by Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Tony Pierce-Roberts
Edited byAndrew Marcus
Music by Richard Robbins
Production
companies
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • September 20, 1996 (1996-09-20)
Running time
125 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$16 million
Box office$2 million

Surviving Picasso is a 1996 American biographical drama film directed by James Ivory and starring Anthony Hopkins as the famous painter Pablo Picasso. It was produced by Ismail Merchant and David L. Wolper. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's screenplay was loosely based on the 1988 biography Picasso: Creator and Destroyer by Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington. [1]

Contents

Plot

The young artist Françoise Gilot meets Picasso in Le Petit Benoit, a little Left Bank bistro, during Nazi-occupied Paris, where Picasso invites her and her friend to visit him at his home and studio at 7 Rue des Grands-Augustins. After doing so and flirting with Picasso she decides to become a painter against her father's wishes. Françoise is beaten by her father after telling him she wants to be a painter, rather than a lawyer. Picasso encourages her to paint and a love affair develops between them and she eventually moves in with him, even as Picasso is shown as often not caring about other people's feelings, firing his driver after a long period of service, and as a womanizer, saying that he can sleep with whomever he wants. We see other scenes of seduction, quarrels, and selfishness, but Picasso and Françoise have two children and move to the South of France near Cannes, but problems persist. In addition to Françoise, the film depicts several of the women who were important in Picasso's life, such as Olga Khokhlova, Dora Maar, Marie-Thérèse Walter, and Jacqueline Roque. The film ends when Françoise leaves Picasso over his coldness and his growing relationship with Jacqueline Roque, who moves in with Picasso and replaces her. [2]

Cast

Production

The Merchant-Ivory team was not able to obtain the rights to Gilot’s own autobiography, or the permission to show any of Picasso’s artwork. Commissioned fake Picasso paintings were made for the film that was shot in Paris and in the South of France. [3]

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 35% of 20 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.1/10. [4] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 55 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. [5]

Box office

In the United States and Canada, Surviving Picasso grossed $2 million at the box office, against a budget of $16 million. [6]

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References

  1. Roger Ebert on Surviving Picasso
  2. Roger Ebert on Surviving Picasso
  3. Roger Ebert on Surviving Picasso
  4. "Surviving Picasso". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved 2023-12-17. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  5. "Surviving Picasso". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  6. "Surviving Picasso". Box Office Mojo . IMDb . Retrieved 2023-12-17. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg