Vincent: The Life and Death of Vincent van Gogh

The commonplace assumptions about the famous Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh, center around his madness and uncompromising personality. But Paul Cox (MAN OF FLOWERS, CACTUS) shows us that, indeed, van Gogh was far more complex than this. Actor John Hurt reads the letters which Vincent wrote to his brother Theo, while the camera explores the Europe that van Gogh explored — the meadows of Holland, the countryside of France, fields of sunflowers and poppies. The images are exquisite equivalents of the impressionist landscapes and still lifes which he so lovingly transposed to canvas. Without using the artist as a character, Cox puts the viewers inside the head of van Gogh and helps them to understand the world as he saw it.