À la porte de l'éternité

This film tackles the story of an artist creating masterpieces for later generations but not for his own. All the techniques that bothered other reviewers--the handheld camera, loud piano soundtrack, looped dialog--all emphasized a life of loneliness and ridicule that made the audience experience those emotions.

Clearly the story lacked a typical plot, not so much because it wasn't there as much as that Van Gogh's story is so well known and portrayed. I sensed that my companions may have been wishing they had chosen a different movie but for me this film further added to the tapestry of Van Gogh's unique story. Plus the film addresses the two biggest points of contention about him ... his ear and his death ... and suggests that Van Gogh's character traits have turned those into unsolvable mysteries.

This film doesn't follow the Hollywood structure. It's not a biography like you might expect, and the plot isn't defined. Instead, this is an attempt to get inside Van Gogh's head, and a brilliant one at that. Imagine being the world's greatest artist, with zero validation and constant ridicule by the establishment around you. That's the torturous state of being this film encapsulates and does it with purpose. At times, the cinema language gets more experimental than necessarily to accomplish its goal, but I commend the director for pushing the boundaries of standard filmmaking and letting us inhabit Van Gogh's mind for this brief period. I genuinely felt a loss for this escape from my own mind when Van Gogh passed. I recommend anyone involved with artistic or creative thinking to watch this film.

The last years of Vincent van Gogh with his extreme sensitivity and mental instability. It's perfectly filmed with a colorful and adequate staging. And Willem Dafoe plays brilliantly!

At Eternity's Gate is perhaps one of the most artistic films that I've seen. It somehow manages to give the sense that it took Van Gogh's painting style and put it in film form, and it was quite effective.

I'll just start by saying At Eternity's Gate is not a movie that will work for everyone. The directing style used is not very common. There are plenty of shaky cameras, as well as many uses of first person point of view and weird dialogue loops. There are many sequences of no dialogue at all, where you are simply watching Van Gogh walking in a field or just painting. There are also lengthy sequences of only dialogue, some for 5 minutes at a time. Some people may find this film boring or even just annoying to try to watch. I, however, really appreciated the artistic directing style and approach to this film. It is also a beautifully shot movie. When Van Gogh is walking through nature, the shots, albeit sometimes a little shaky to fit the style, really capture the beauty of his surroundings in a way that can be breathtaking at times.

As for the plot of this movie, there really isn't one. You should instead think of it as a collection of scenes put together, roughly in order, that illustrate various key experiences near the end of painter Vincent Van Gogh's life. This will make the film a bit less confusing. Sitting there trying to connect everything you see under one plot would be very difficult, so it's better to just watch it scene by scene as you move through Van Gogh's life and try to get a sense of his motivations and state of mind. I found this to be a very interesting decision, but it added to the creativity of the film and made it feel more like a piece of art, so I understood and even appreciated this odd strategy.

The main thing this film tries to do is show the mental state of Van Gogh and almost try to get inside his head. This made for some very odd sequences in the film, but also made for a very unique and interesting movie. It might not work well 100% of the time, but for the most part, I was fascinated with the way they attempted to convey Van Gogh's mental instability.

Willem Dafoe in the lead role gives an outstanding performance (not that it's unexpected for that to happen). He portrays both the crazy and likable sides of Van Gogh to perfection, and really captures the incredible passion he had for art and painting. Oscar Isaac also gives a great performance as Gauguin, the other artist who's a little crazy (albeit much less so than Van Gogh). The rest of the cast holds there own as well, and the characters are all interesting to learn about.

The music in this film is also a bit strange at times, but seems to fit very well with the style and subject matter of the movie, and even is able to enhance the beauty of Van Gogh's surroundings when he is walking through nature.

At Eternity's Gate is a film that may not be for everyone, but it's creativity and great performances make it worth watching if you can manage watching the unique directing style.

Vincent Van Gogh's last days in the south of France are depicted in this heartfelt drama by Julian Schnabel. Willem Dafoe gives a powerful performance as the destitute, troubled painter who was not understood by those in his own time. As Van Gogh seeks to express his extraordinary eye for nature and portraits, those around him are either put off, wary or sometimes intrigued. His brother is his only real comfort.

A deliberately paced film with a mournful soundtrack, this will leave you in a contemplative state. It does not tell you everything about Van Gogh or when his self-isolation began but it does seek to offer insight into his profoundly troubled mental state. His demons are quite evident throughout the film- everything from his intolerant response to the curiosity of schoolchildren to his difficulty explaining his world to whatever doctor is examining him, Van Gogh is exemplified in Dafoe's anguished face. Schnabel, himself a painter, brings his own perspective in piecing this film together, especially in showing how Van Gogh paints and goes about his craft.

The film is not without drawbacks. Oscar Isaac is miscast as Paul Gauguin, the French painter whom Van Gogh couldn't bear losing company with. And Mads Mikkelsen gets minimal screen time in a very thoughtful performance as an inquisitive priest who recognizes Van Gogh's uniqueness. But this film is Schnabel's interpretation of Van Gogh and Dafoe's exemplary portrayal of him and in that regard it works quite well. Recommended.