Vincent & Theo (1990)
Robert Altman, the great ironist of American movies, can't resist beginningVincent & Theowith video of an art auction at Christie's, where Van Gogh'sSunflowersattracts dizzying multi-million-dollar bids. Dissolve to the utterly squalid hovel where Vincent (Tim Roth) lives--reminding us that the artist sold but one painting in his poor, tormented lifetime.Vincent & Theois an unusual and--fittingly enough--impressionistic look at Vincent and his brother Theo (Paul Rhys), the mad genius and the art broker. These parallel lives unfold, with Vincent's celebrated wallow in the fires of art running alongside Theo's neurotic struggle to fit into the real world. Roth is mesmerizing and frightening as Vincent, while Rhys gives a more mannered performance that fits Theo's tortured ambivalence. The eerie buzz of Gabriel Yared's music helps us get inside Vincent's head. If the true-life circumstances are unavoidably grim and Altman's pace is slow, almost druggy, the film nevertheless casts a spell. (Vincent's eloquent letters to Theo are beautifully used in Paul Cox'sVincent, a good companion piece to this version of the artist's life.)--Robert Horton