Seraphine

The winner of seven French Césars, including Best Film, Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay, this beautiful biographical drama stars Yolande Moreau as Séraphine Louis (1864-1942), better known as Séraphine de Senlis, the self-taught "naïve" painter of extraordinary floral patterns, whose beautifully-colored canvases now adorn museums and galleries worldwide. She was discovered in 1913, while working as a humble housekeeper outside Paris for German art dealer Wilhelm Uhde (Ulrich Tukur). He gives her encouragement and financial support, but flees for his life at the outbreak of the First World War. They meet again in the 1920s, when Uhde resumes his role as Séraphine's patron, but Séraphine's remarkable development as an artist is rivalled by a deteriorating mental condition. Moreau delivers a terrifically physical performance as the downtrodden servant who is also a fragile egotist, and filmmaker Martin Provost vividly depicts Séraphine's relationship with the natural world, which was her closest and truest friend. In French (and some German) with English subtitles. Writer/Director: Martin Provost. (France 2008) 125 min.