Pialat’s special Van Gogh film, a true struggle with the material, is ion its form largely based on painting. And not exclusively or possibly not at all on Van Gogh’s painting. Pialat’s pictures are naturalistic and usually shot out of doors but they are noticeably ‘affected’ by the work of painters such as Renoir, Cézanne, Manet, Degas, Bonnard and (for the brothel interiors) Toulouse-Lautrec.Pialat limited himself to the last few months of Van Gogh’s life. The months he spent mainly in Auvers, as guest and patient of the doctor and collector Gachet. He made the occasional trip to Paris, especially to visit his brother Theo on whom he was financial dependent, but also to have a good night out.Pialat approaches Van Gogh from his surroundings and shows him during his contacts with other people and not when he it at work in complete isolation. Pialat reveals a society which in all its good breeding and superficial cheerfulness is too cold and uninhabitable for Van Gogh.Many reviews point out the (auto)biographical similarity between Van Gogh and Pialat; the unpredictable and sombre film-maker is alleged to see his alter ego in Van Gogh. That is however a limited interpretation which does not do justiceto the majestic mise-en-scènes of life around Van Gogh. ‘C’est la vie, la vie immédiate que cherche à tout prix à capter Pialat’ (Thierry Jouse in Cahiers du Cinéma).
