Republican News · Thursday 9 January 1996

Homage to Megalomania Surviving Picasso

You really can have too much of a good thing and this is not just the voice of post-Christmas excess. The preview of the new Merchant Ivory production Surviving Picasso was shown before Yuletide festivities began and it was clear even then that this was just one step too far for the production team who brought us A Room With a View, Howards End, The Remains of the Day etc.

James Ivory and Ismail Merchant have created their very own genre of historical films on grand themes but it is clear now that the steam is running out and that there are some roles that even Hannibal Hopkins can't get his teeth into.

Surviving Picasso is not a bad film. It's very watchable for some very wrong reasons. It tells the story of the ten years that painter Francoise Gilot spent with Picasso, beginning in 1943 Vichy France. The screenplay is not based however on Gilot's own book of that period but on that of a third party, biographer, Arianna Stassinopoulos.

Picasso is portrayed as a bullying egotistical control freak who is also a brilliant artist. It seems that throughout the film its characters, including Gilot, condone this behaviour because it is partly these traits that contribute to Picasso's genius.

Take for example the epic painting Guernica. According to the film Picasso was painting this while two women physically fought over him in the same room. He used his women as slaves who had to look after his studios, light the fire and bring him food. They could have little life of their own, only that element of freedom which Picasso allowed.

thony Hopkins seems to present a believable Picasso, but to an English speaking viewer he would, wouldn't he? What would a Spanish-speaking viewer think of his characterisation? Natasha McElhone as Francoise is one of the film's few redeeming features. Hopkins' strained over-the-top portrayal of Picasso seemed at odds with McElhone's more believable presentation of Francoise. Merchant and Ivory need to take stock before they hit the historical trail again.

BY NEIL FORDE

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