Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

The Artist and the Model Blu-ray Movie Review

Lust for Life.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 10, 2014

Is there really any way to quantify inspiration, to somehow understand the urge to create Art (in any medium) as somehow palpable, measurable data points? Of course not—and that’s one of the most salient reasons that the artistic pursuits of Mankind seem so impenetrable. There have been a lot of philosophers from the dawn of time who have offered the opinion that these creative impulses stand as a bulwark against mortality, a kind of built in genetic predisposition to scream at the universe, “Hey! I was here!” How, then, to understand when inspiration takes a holiday of sorts, leaving any given artist without the impetus to forge something new? The Artist and the Model, a lovely if perhaps too understated exploration of an aging sculptor-painter’s reinvigoration courtesy of a young muse whom he starts to sketch (and ultimately paint and sculpt), doesn’t really provide any cogent answers to these questions, but they linger just underneath the finely observed interactions that make up the bulk of the film. Co-writer Fernando Trueba is one of the protean forces of the Spanish film industry, having helmed such widely disparate pieces as the Academy Award winning Belle Epoque and the Academy Award nominated Chico & Rita). The Artist and the Model is considerably quieter and smaller than some of Trueba’s previous outings, but it’s no less satisfying if taken on its own terms. The film has an interesting though never preachy political subtext (it’s set during World War II and also deals with the after effects of the Spanish Civil War), but the core of the story is the unfolding relationship between aging painter Marc Cros (Jean Rochefort) and Mercè (Aida Folch), the young woman who takes up residence in his isolated home and studio, ultimately giving the elderly man a reason to live—and to create.

It’s 1943, and while France is largely occupied, somehow the war seems slightly distant to Marc Cros and his wife Lea (Claudia Cardinale). While soldiers can be seen traipsing through the town square, there aren’t overt signs of a horrible, epochal battle anywhere to be seen, and in fact Cros’ beautiful if somewhat dilapidated country house is a sylvan refuge of peace and quiet. Maybe too much peace and quiet. Lea spies a beautiful young woman (a refugee, perhaps?) bathing herself in the fountain in the town square, and she invites the girl back to her home, with the express intent of presenting the girl to her husband as a potential model.

Cros is extremely old, but not especially frail. He in fact is old enough to have known several iconic masters, but has perhaps never quite risen to their ranks. He’s obviously an intensely creative man, if awfully soft spoken, but he has lost the ineluctable creative spark. Lea seems only too aware of this “change of seasons”, and bears absolutely no jealousy toward young Mercè, instead hoping that her arrival will somehow resurrect her husband’s dormant desires to sculpt and paint.

The political aspect of the story starts to bubble up when Mercè’s background is slowly revealed. She is in fact a refugee, a survivor of concentration camps that Franco set up after he had vanquished the Communist forces in the Spanish Civil War. Trueba doesn’t really dwell on this fact, which may provide a slight stumbling block for those not intimately familiar with the turmoil in Spain in the late thirties. Even later, when another freedom fighter enters the film’s story, Trueba utilizes the character more as a catalyst for the relationship between Cros and Mercè than for any overt political statement.

The Artist and the Model is deliberately slow paced, giving a visual analog to its languid momentum with the many trial sketches and models Cros works on before attempting to really capture Mercè as a work of art. Despite the fact that there’s a fair amount of nudity in the film, this is a surprisingly chaste outing. Cros sees Mercè as a personification of The Eternal Feminine, not necessarily a sex object (or perhaps most correctly, not simply a sex object). In fact as the aging artist reveals early in the film, he feels the feminine form is one of the surest signs that there is a God.

Rochefort, Cardinale and Folch are perfectly cast as the focal trio (even if, truth be told, Cardinale appears in what is basically a glorified cameo). Rochefort’s Cros is a wizened old man who isn’t above the occasional fit of pique, but whose calm, assured approach to his art is perfectly summed up in one of the film’s most moving scenes, when Cros talks about a Rembrandt sketch as if it revealed all the mysteries of creation. Folch’s Mercè is a fascinating creature, at once a hunted animal searching for a respite from an unseen predator, but also an incredibly vulnerable, open young woman learning that even in the midst of war, beauty can be realized. (Folch resembles a young Dominique Sanda at times.) Cardinale is a sprite in this film, miles away from her sex bomb image from her early sixties’ films, but evincing a level of compassion and wisdom that’s wonderful to behold.

The film is perhaps just a tad too pat in its closing moments, and some may feel a couple of melodramatic subplots don’t really mesh all that well with the film’s more measured overall approach. The Artist and the Model is in some ways a wonderful companion piece to Renoir . In both of these films, an aging and iconic creator is inspired to create anew by the arrival of a gorgeous if naïve young woman. Both films are also rather slow and understated, but they both have an incredible luster and attention to detail. The old saying goes that truth is stranger than fiction, but there’s perhaps a greater Truth (yes, with a capital T) that this fictional creation is able to approach in its story of the redemptive power of Art for both its creator and its muse.

The Artist and the Model Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Artist and the Model is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Media Group with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This black and white film was lensed by Daniel Vilar with the Arri Alexa system. While some may yearn for a more organic film-like appearance with a story like this, the results here are often incredibly lustrous, with finely modulated gray scale and some beautifully realized framings which capture an incredible spectrum of light and shadow. The play of light is very important to the look of this film, and this transfer's excellent contrast and resolute black levels help to create some really appealing dappling effects. Depth of field is also very good in the many outdoor scenes. No areas of major concern are evident in this transfer.

The Artist and the Model Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Though The Artist and the Model is "officially" a Spanish film, the spoken language here is actually French, delivered on this Blu-ray via a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. The surround activity here is mostly limited to ambient environmental noise, with a nice, if subtle, evocation of the countryside surrounding the Cros villa. This is obviously a character driven, "small" film which does not offer huge opportunities for bombastic immersion. Dialogue is very cleanly presented and the track presents no problems of any kind.

The Artist and the Model Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview with Director Fernando Trueba (1080p; 4:30). Trueba is interviewed by critic Graham Fuller and gives some brief but insightful comments about the cast (especially Cardinale) and the film.


• Photo Gallery (1080p)


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:02)

The Artist and the Model Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Artist and the Model is a film which fairly screams Art House Cinema, as unintentionally ironic as that may be. Those who don't mind slow moving, character based dramas will most likely love this film. There are a couple of minor distractions here that Trueba and his co-writer Jean-Claude Carrière throw into the mix that strictly speaking are not integral to the central story of the aging sculptor and his new muse, but there is a lot to admire, and perhaps even love, in this quiet, unassuming portrait (pun intended) of an artist as a very old man. While the supplements on this Blu-ray are rather slight, the technical merits are first rate, and The Artist and the Model comes Highly recommended.