Yolande Moreau is a Belgian comedienne who has assumed a litany of television and film roles in her near three-decade career. So what she’s doing in the new French film Seraphine is anyone’s guess. That being said, her turn as Seraphine Louis/Seraphine de Senlis is mesmerizing and awe-inspiring and ads credence to the film’s seven Cesar victories. Seraphine details the life and struggles of the unassuming French servant, who fought madness and ridicule, en route to a career as a painter. Her chance encounter with Wilhelm Uhde, and her subsequent internment and death at an asylum are all documented here, and according to art historian Jenifer P. Borum , the film is nearly 100 % accurate. The film opens in New York the first week of June and then makes it into other art-house theaters nationwide a few weeks later. It’s success at the Cesars allows it to join the company of other heralded foreign films, including but not limited to: Cyrando de Bergerac, The Dreamlife of Angels, The Pianist, The Barbarian Invasions, The Beat That My Heart Skipped and Lady Chatterly.
What kind of impression Seraphine makes in the States is still to be determined, but so far it’s as good as any movie I’ve seen in 2009. Wonderfully shot, superbly written and backed by a stirring soundtrack, it’s an inspiring and bittersweet story about the power of art and determination; and the ability to rise above despite various limitations and hindrances.
