Review of At Eternity's Gate (2018) by K Nife C — 07 Jan 2019

Julian Schnabel out-Schnabels himself with this fractured biopic of the Kurt Cobain of painting: Vincent van Gogh. Parts of the film go full Malick with Benoit Delhomme's lilting then askew camer-acrobatics, but if you can see past all the rattled running scenes and horizontal diopter shots the film stays fairly well grounded with Willem Dafoe's manically subdued performance. He's aided in the task by Oscar Isaac, Mads Mikkelsen, and Rupert Friend as the movie documents fragments of van Gogh's last few years after leaving Paris. As his mental health deteriorates, we follow the echoes and burnt circuits in Vincent's brain as his frustration turns to alcoholism turns to mental illness turns to despondency.

For anyone who's aware of his biography, there won't be many surprises here in terms of plot, but, for anyone who walked in off of the street to see this, Schnabel does no favors in hammering out the details of his final days. It's a heady and impressionistic piece, and the difference between it being dreamlike and sleep-inducing will probably depend on your caffeine levels. It's certainly not one of those movies that reaches out a grabs you, nor does it have the soulful impact of something like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. But for a quiet, emotional exploration of the long-gone famed painter who's been depicted over and over in lesser contexts, At Eternity's Gate is an intelligent and finely crafted look at the dark side of Vincent van Gogh.