7/10
This movie could have worked, but it didn't.
25 June 2019
Klimt & Schiele - Eros and Psyche (2018) is a documentary directed by Michele Mally.

Many people know the name Gustav Klimt because he was a great painter, and because of the movie Woman in Gold (2015), starring Helen Mirren. Klimt's contemporary, Egon Schiele is not as well known.

The movie somehow tries to weave their art into a tapestry of their era. New names appear and disappear, and it's hard to understand how person A relates to person B, or C, or D.

More exasperating is that Klimt and Schiele were painters in the Art Nouveau style. The film uses the German term, Jugendstil, but never defines it.

Art Nouveau or Jugendstil was a major artistic movement from 1890 until WW I Klimt and Schiele were key players. I find it bizarre that this isn't made apparent anywhere in the movie.

This is a film worth seeing if you're interested in art, and, especially Art Nouveau. It's not a terrible film, but not a great one either.

We saw the movie at a special showing at Rochester's wonderful Little Theatre. Because it's about art, it will work better on a large screen than on a small screen. Klimt and Schiele were great artists. I wish director Mally had made a great film about them.
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