The Impressionists

I am a big fan of BBC dramatic mini-series to begin with, which is how I ended up bringing this home from the library in the first place. While I like impressionist art, and have traveled specifically to see exhibits, it was not a topic that I was burning to know more about--not 3 hours more about, certainly. Yet at the end of this, I was so sad to have no more. It is engrossing, and enchanting. Filmed in locations where the artists themselves painted, sometimes painting together, producing canvasses of the same place on the same day, and then we are able to see the different styles they brought to the genre. The six painters who are focused on are: Eduard Manet, Federic Bizzelle, August Renoir, Eduard Degas, Claude Monet, and Paul Cezanne. The story is told through the eyes of Monet, being interviewed in his garden in Giverny at the end of his life.

Richard Armitage plays a very engaging young Monet. The story is kind to him--he does not come off as a womanizer--his love life is not perfect but it is very good. He is supported emotionally, especially in his second relationship, to pursue his vision of art, and he does become well off and famous in his lifetime, so he gets a chance to live more comfortably as a result. The roots of the movement, the reaction to it in Napoleonic France (not warmly received) and the progression of each painter's ideas and thirst for fame build throughout the movie. There is an appropriate emphasis on the paintings that came out of each period, so that we can see the changes, and what was happening when. I particularly liked the parts about Monet at the end, building his own settings within which to paint in the gardens in Giverny, and therefore being able to stay put in one place and paint endlessly different versions of what he was surrounded by each day. Bravo!