"Egon Schiele - Exzesse" or "Egon Schiele: Excess and Punishment" is a co-production between West Germany, France and Austria and it's a German-language film, but I also found a French-language version which should not be surprising looking at some of the actors in here. This film is from 1981, which means it has its 35th anniversary this year. The writer and director is Herbert Vesely and this is one of his biggest successes as the film got selected to represent Austria at the Academy Awards over three decades ago. It did not manage to get nominated though. The movie runs for slightly over 90 minutes and features a handful of somewhat famous names, such as Mathieu Carrière, who plays the title character in one of his most known movies, Jane Birkin, Christine Kaufmann and Marcel Ophüls, an Academy Award nominee at this point already, but not yet a winner. Fairly decent list of names I would say. Sadly, this film is also once again proof that it is always about the script. Actors can be good or even great, but if the material they are given is not convincing, then it will be really difficult to hope for a quality outcome. This is sadly also the case here. It is the story of painter Egon Schiele and his very special relationship to women. He usually painted them nude, which did not only have a huge impact on his professional life, but temptation always lurked around the corner in terms of his private life. I guess that if you really love films about artists, especially painters, then you will not be disappointed here as this film is by no means a failure. However, I also do not think it is a particularly creative achievement, which will get you interested in films on painters. That's why I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.
