Séraphine

Séraphine is a superbly constructed and visually evocative drama about an artist outsider who tasted fame and ultimately died alone and unable to enjoy her success. Set in the French countryside town of Senlis, where Séraphine was born in 1864 and lived until her death in a mental institution in 1942, the film tells the story of a “naïve” self-taught artist who made her living as a cleaning woman. Séraphine is played with great care and emotional depth by Yolanda Moreau, a veteran actress who has worked with Agnes Varda (Vagabond) and appeared in Amelie, Paris, je t’aime, and The Last Mistress.  The portrayal is quiet, mysterious, and appropriately obsessive.

The film is cinematic in every way, it’s the kind of work that stands outside of the influence of theater or literature. The cinematography is clean, the camera work stable, and the pace of the film fits the mood – slow and thoughtful. Most of the scenes are shot in natural light, which gives a feeling of historical authenticity. There is relatively little dialogue, no interior monologues, and sequences are sometimes just long enough to make an important point before fading to black (a device that is used numerous times).  The narrative technique is also very efficient.  Early in the film Séraphine is in the back room of a butcher shop helping to prep when Uhde, who will become her patron, enters the front room. In a secretive moment she dips a small bottle into a pan of liver and fills it with blood. Meanwhile the butcher and his assistant look with disdain at Uhde when they learn he is German. Séraphine then goes to a church before it closes and discretely fills another small bottle with wax from extinguished candles. Without explaining too much it is clear that Séraphine has her own unique way of going about her business and that Uhde is going to have trouble as war develops around him.

What gives the story emotional resonance is the parallel development of Séraphine and Wilhelm Uhde (played with restraint by Ulrich Tukur). Uhde is a collector from Paris who recognizes her talent and commits himself to bringing her success. A connoisseur of outsider art who champions Picasso, he is also a German trying to make it in French society at the outset of the first World War. Determined to help Séraphine he is looked on with suspicion by others.  When they finally reunite after the war it becomes clear that there are other facets of his personal life which keep him outside of  “accepted” society. His vulnerability is a bond that marks Séraphine and him as similar souls.

In historical films characters are often at the mercy of a world that changes around them. Séraphine and Uhde are battered by war and, as they get back on their feet, by the depression that finally reaches Europe.  For Séraphine the religious vision that drives her painting ultimately consumes her ability to function in the world. But she has not been alone in her journey and will not be completely forgotten when she dies.

                                    Thomas W. Campbell