The Mystery of Picasso Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

The Mystery of Picasso Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 23, 2018

Some retrospective photo book culled from the archives of the venerable Time Life organization that my parents had included a fantastic article featuring Pablo Picasso “painting with light” that caught my childhood eye many years ago, with one reason being (aside from the art that I probably was too young to really get) because of Picasso’s almost ogre like appearance. The photo essay caught the iconic artist in a variety of almost bizarre poses, kind of grimacing toward the camera, as if to suggest he wasn’t all that happy about being photographed in the midst of his creative endeavors. Picasso is a good deal more sanguine in The Mystery of Picasso, a film made several years after the Life Magazine picture essay was published, an article which itself evidently appeared around the same time as a previous documentary depicting Picasso in the throes of his creative process, 1949’s Visit to Picasso (also included on this disc as a welcome supplement, as detailed below). There’s a brief article with a neat slideshow here on Time’s website recounting the photo shoot for Life. It includes this interesting quote about Picasso’s working temperament:

Putting on a mask is sometimes enough to set Picasso off into a kind of witch-doctor frenzy. He roars and writhes behind his gorilla mask, dances away to the mirror, returns in a rubber devil's mask to swoop down on his daughter Paloma.

Perhaps because The Mystery of Picasso was directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot and filmed by a man with a rather famous artistic surname himself, Claude Renoir, Picasso is at least relatively reserved throughout the film as he creates a series of works in real time for the camera. As an in depth analysis of the creative process, The Mystery of Picasso probably falls short, since it’s less concerned with delving into the depths of Picasso’s psychology than simply watching the man draw (and/or paint).

Henri-Georges Clouzot is a name of course associated with a different kind of mystery, as evidenced by such iconic films as Diabolique and The Wages of Fear (those interested are strongly encouraged to check out Arrow’s release of Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno, a fascinating documentary covering an abandoned Clouzot film). But the “mystery” of the artistic process is perhaps an unknowable, and therefore inherently unsolvable, one, despite the lip service Clouzot gives in the early part of this film about “the secret process” that gives birth to art. As such, The Mystery of Picasso never really gives any definitive answers as to how Picasso arrives at his masterpieces, and instead works better as a simple document of Picasso arriving at various works of art (I’ll leave it to others to discern whether any of the works created for this film qualify as masterpieces).

In fact, the brief moments where Clouzot and Picasso interact in this film are arguably the least effective, and typically have little to do with the actual creative process. The film springs to life, though, when Picasso simply draws and/or paints, and one of the most significant things that The Mystery of Picasso uncovers is how Picasso himself deconstructs his own work. He’ll start with something at least vaguely representational, and then repeatedly go over his foundational sketch with new elements that refract angles, portions of bodies, and the like until a more “traditionally” Cubist appearance emerges (and, yes, it’s kind of ironic to use traditionally and Cubist in the same sentence). Watching these pieces take shape is the chief calling card of The Mystery of Picasso, and in fact probably the best example of the title’s very referent.

The Mystery of Picasso Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Mystery of Picasso is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37: and 2.35. Arrow's insert booklet only contains fairly generic information on the transfer, stating:

The Mystery of Picasso was digitally restored by Gaumon from original film elements. The film is presented in its original aspect ratios of 1.37:1 and 2.35:1, with original mono sound.

As is seen in the restoration featurette included on the disc as a supplement, the source element used for this transfer was awash in flecks and specks, along with other damage like density fluctuations, and those have by and large been hugely ameliorated, if not outright eliminated. The black and white footage is quite crisp looking, with deep blacks and nicely modulated gray scale. Grain can look just a trifle noisy when blank white sheets of paper fill the frame, but on the whole resolves naturally and offers no real compression challenges. The color footage really pops magnificently, with Picasso's use of bold primaries offering really vivid saturation. The CinemaScope elements (toward the end of the film) offer a literal wider canvas upon which Picasso works his magic, and clarity is exceptional in these broader works.

The Mystery of Picasso Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Mystery of Picasso features an LPCM Mono track in the original French, with optional English subtitles. The spoken elements (largely voice over, along with a few momentary conversations with Picasso) come through well enough, but Georges Auric's anachronistic score can sound just slightly boxy at times, especially when he exploits elements like massed paradiddles on various drums. While fidelity can't quite overcome the recording techniques of the time, there's no outright damage in terms of dropouts.

The Mystery of Picasso Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Visit to Picasso (HD; 20:24) is a much more straightforward piece from 1949, with more of a biographical approach toward its subject. This is marred somewhat by a problematic element that has both video and (especially) audio damage.


• La Garoupe (HD; 9:30) is a fascinating selection of "home movies" shot by none other than Man Ray after he had been given some promotional 16mm Kodachrome color stock in 1937. The movies capture a group of people, including Picasso, frolicking near Antibes.


• Picasso, My Father (HD; 25:30) is a really interesting interview with Picasso's daughter, Maya, who talks about knowing Clouzot since her childhood and what "hanging out" with her father and his cronies was like growing up.


• The Mystery of Picasso Restored (HD; 1:59) offers some before and after views of the restoration process.

As usual, Arrow has also provided a nicely appointed insert booklet.

The Mystery of Picasso Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you come to The Mystery of Picasso expecting some kind of revelatory answers about how Picasso achieved his inspiration, you'll probably find this film a disappointment. Picasso doesn't talk all that much in this piece, and instead most of The Mystery of Picasso is given over to long shots of drawings being developed, all while Georges Auric's sometimes patently odd music plays. That approach may not give salient answers, but it offers a visceral experience of being able to watch Picasso create a work of art, and that is a mystery of sublime proportions that probably shouldn't be explained. Arrow has done a nice job restoring this lesser remembered film by Henri-Georges Clouzot, and as long as the film's intent and context is understood, The Mystery of Picasso comes Highly recommended.