I encountered this trailer for Seraphine while watching the DVD of A Man Called Ove and decided to give it a try. Here's the blurb:
Based on a true story, SÉRAPHINE centers on Séraphine de Senlis (Moreau), a simple and profoundly devout housekeeper whose brilliantly colorful canvases adorn some of the most famous galleries in the world. German art critic and collector Wilhelm Uhde (The Lives of Others Ulrich Tukur) - the first Picasso buyer and champion of naïve primitive painter Le Douanier Rousseau - discovers her paintings while she is working for him as a maid in the beautiful countryside of Senlis near Paris. A moving and unexpected relationship develops between the avant-garde art dealer and the visionary outsider artist. Martin Provost's fictionalized and poignant portrait of Séraphine is a testament to creativity and the resilience of one womans spirit.That's an accurate summary. It's not a cheerful movie, but it is extremely well acted and filmed, scoring 89% on Rotten Tomatoes; it received these César Awards in 2009:
- Won: Best Actress – Leading Role (Yolande Moreau)
- Won: Best Cinematography (Laurent Brunet)
- Won: Best Costume Design (Madeline Fontaine)
- Won: Best Film
- Won: Best Music Written for a Film (Michael Galasso)
- Won: Best Production Design (Thierry François)
- Won: Best Writing – Original (Marc Abdelnour and Martin Provost)