Las aventuras de Picasso

Hasse Alfredsson's and Tage Danielsson's films has always had a special place in my heart, and in particular "The Adventures of Picasso". The film is about Picasso's life and art, told through a distorted mirror.

For those not familiar with Hasse & Tage's style, it might seem to be a somewhat shallow and burlesque film, but it is more than a ordinary comedy. It also shows the trouble of becoming the victim of your own public image, and how the creativity and the personal life may suffer from it. In many ways it is a film in the same spirit as Charlie Chaplin's "The Dictator", slapstick mixed with reflection.

Pablo Picasso once said that "We all know that art is not the truth, art is a lie that makes us realize the truth" and I think that "The Adventures of Picasso" encompass this in a very nice way!

This has got to be one of the most international movies ever made - there is no dialog! Any country can dub the narrative on top with no difficulty. And all that is muttered in this fantastic movie is already translated into whatever tongue be local to the moviegoers - it has dialog like 'Pablo! Pablo!' and 'Mamma! Mamma!' and 'Hauptbanhof! Nichts! Raus!' and stuff like that. It's a riot. Does it make any sense? Does it have a message? Who cares! This is Hasse & Tage at their best - and Hasse & Tage are already the best.

One of the funniest films ever. I've seen this few times and I'm always laughing my *ss off... Especially as a Finn I love the scene where Picasso goes to meet Sirkka at her parents and knocks the door. Lasse Poysti (a famous Finnish(!) actor) as Sirkka's father yells "Makkara!", which isn't actually Finnish for 'Come in!' but 'Sausage!' Everyone who loves strange and absurd humor will love this movie!

This comedy is one of the funniest I ever seen. If you know the story of Picasso you will laugh at every new scene. It's a nice way of presenting a big artist and make people learn more about him. The actors are very good and some of them are among the top swedish actors.

I saw this film while in Hungary (even funnier with Hungarian subtitles - cause it looks so incomprehensible!).

Sadly, when I rented it here in the USA, I discovered that a large chunk of the film dealing with Picasso in New York during the prohibition of modern art, and his subsequent trial and escape had been ruthlessly cut by the US censors. Criminal. Can't we Americans relax and learn to laugh at ourselves, too??

Nonetheless, this is a hilarious film and, as Monty Python so often does, draws on our knowledge of history to make it's fractured-fairytale point. Strongly recommended for those who love wacky (though sometimes slightly sophomoric) humor with a light intellectual touch.