Review: Willem Dafoe is maddeningly brilliant in 'At Eternity's Gate'
Posted Tuesday, February 12, 2019 at 4:12 PM Central
Last updated Tuesday, February 12, 2019 at 4:13 PM Central
by John Couture
If there is a better marriage between actor and real-life subject than the one created between Willem Dafoe and Vincent Van Gogh in At Eternity's End, then I can't think of it. The mercurial actor was born to play the depressed post-impressionist painter and he absolutely knocks it out of the park.
If there's a dark horse at the Oscars in a couple of weeks to capture the Best Actor statue, it would be Dafoe and his brilliant turn as the misunderstood painter. I should probably preface this review with an admission that I am a massive Van Gogh fan. When my wife and I visited Paris last year, we spent an entire day in the Musée d'Orsay enjoying the many works from Van Gogh and other master painters. We have a print of "The Church at Auvers" hanging in our kitchen.
We are big Van Gogh fans.
So, it's not surprising that when the opportunity to review At Eternity's End came up, I didn't hesitate to check out this biopic on the influential artist. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the film that was taken to another level thanks to Dafoe's masterly performance as the Dutch painter.
At Eternity's End focuses on the final years of Van Gogh's life when he was perfecting his post-impressionist style and coming to terms with his growing depression. The sad tragedy of Van Gogh's life is a story that is widely known, but director Julian Schnabel opts to focus in on the man instead of his story to tell a personal account of the painter that is mostly true.
This is a film in which I truly found the director's audio commentary to be helpful. That's not to say that other commentaries are boring, but this one is most illuminating in pointing out the scenes that were made up for dramatic purposes. While a majority of the film was based on real events and situations taken from letters, the scenes with a more dramatic license really help to shape the framework of Van Gogh's ongoing mental illness.
The director also makes some rather interesting choices with the camera. There are several shaky cam scenes that while abrasive to the viewer does a pretty good job of conveying the internal maelstrom within Van Gogh. He was a visionary that saw the world through a different lens than the rest of us and Schnabel's camera decisions help to transfer this vision to the audience. Much like the shaky cam footage was used to perfection in The Blair Witch Project to induce chaos and confusion in the audience, so too does the bold camera moves hint at the hidden off-kilter genius within Van Gogh.
While I could go on for days about the amazing performance turned in by Willem Dafoe, he's not the only one on top of his game. Co-stars Mads Mikkelsen and Oscar Isaac bring their top-notch acting chops to the film. In particular, Mikkelsen's priest is a character that really does a lot of the emotional heavy lifting in the film, aside from Dafoe naturally. As for Isaac, his Paul Gauguin seems spot on from what I know about the painter and it makes me long to see him reprise the artist in his own biopic.
In a couple of weeks, I will be cheering for Willem Dafoe to pull off the upset at the Oscars. Much like the character he plays in the film, Dafoe hasn't realized the critical success in his lifetime that his performances deserve. I truly hope that this isn't yet another case where death and distance displays the greatness that was always there. Willem Dafoe is a vastly underrated actor and he is deserving of recognition for his work in At Eternity's End, much like Van Gogh deserved to experience the unbridled joy of appreciation that an episode of Doctor Who was able to provide him.
All the tears. At Eternity's End is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.
