SERAPHINE

Director: Martin Provost • 125min • PG
In French and German with subtitles

Séraphine arrives from France as the year's most honoured film, winner of seven French Oscar Awards, including best film and best actress. Yolande Moreau gives a dedicated performance as the poor and oppressed Séraphine de Senlis (1864–1948), the naïve painter who created strange, visionary works of fruits and flowers, charged with a marvellous and unsettling power.

The film follows Séraphine's life and discovery in 1914 by noted German art collector Wilhelm Uhde (the first to purchase Picasso's works), who supported and encouraged the then-housekeeper in her desire to paint. As Séraphine's work grows in recognition and fame, newfound success has devastating emotional consequences. Beautifully photographed, meditative and with a strong sense of the quietude of rural France in the 1920s, Séraphine brings to life the story of an amazing and little known artist.

BEST FILM, ACTRESS, CINEMATOGRAPHY, COSTUME AND PRODUCTION DESIGNS, MUSIC AND WRITING, CESAR AWARDS 2009

GRAND PRIX, BEST FILM, FLANDERS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2008

BEST FILM, DIRECTOR, ACTOR, ACTRESS, SCREENPLAY, NEWPORT BEACH FILM FESTIVAL 2009