French painter Paul Gauguin receives two noted cinematic approximations in 2018. Edouard Deluc’s Gauguin: Voyage to Tahitifeatures Vincent Cassel as the tropically consumed painter who finds romance and liberation during his most prolific artistic period (meanwhile, Oscar Isaac also portrays Gauguin during his strained relationship to Vincent Van Gogh in Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate (review), which hits theatrical in November of 2018). Despite a lack of any major festival play, the title was snapped up by Cohen Media Group and raked in just over two-hundred thousand at the US box office during a limited theatrical release in July of 2018. From our 2018 theatrical review: “based on Paul Gauguin’s own memoirs, Deluc’s trouble begins with an adapted screenplay which seems more inclined towards a travelogue. Writer and producer Etienne Comar (who had similar issues with his own directorial debut, 2017’s Django, a biopic on musician Django Reinhardt as he eluded the Nazis) seems inclined towards providing extremely neutered versions of extraordinary chapters from noted historical figures (though writers Thomas Lilti and Sarah Kaminsky are also partially to blame for this missed opportunity).”
Disc Review:
Cohen Media Group releases Gauguin (not too long after Jacques Doillon’s 2017 biopic on Rodin) in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1. Picture and sound quality are intact in this transfer, with Pierre Cottereau’s cinematography stealing the attention of the production. Several extra features are included on the release.
Illustrations:
A fifteen-minute segment shows a demonstration of how several segments were blocked or directed.
Vincent Cassel is Gauguin:
This brief three-minute bit is a montage featuring Cassel as Gauguin which also features the actor, director and co-stars commenting on the portrayal of the painter.
Life and Painting of Gauguin:
This five-minute segment features the director speaking on the film and its basis, Gauguin’s travelogue Noa Noa.
Tahiti:
This two-minute snippet focuses on the locale of Tahiti in the film.
Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.
