AT ETERNITY’S GATE

Director
Julian Schnabel
(THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY, BEFORE NIGHT FALLS)

Stars
Willem Dafoe, Rupert Friend, Oscar Isaac and Emmanuelle Seigner

Before Vincent van Gogh’s death in 1890 at the age of just thirty-seven, the Dutch painter spent his final years in Arles and Auvers-Sur-Oise in the South of France where he completed most of his artwork. Though this could be the place that he truly ‘found himself’ as a painter and would go on to earn great success posthumously, Vincent (played by Willem Dafoe) also spent those last couple of years severely challenged by mental health issues and grappled with his religious beliefs. AT ETERNITY’S GATE is a visual illustration of this time in his life and is based on Vincent’s letters, common agreement about events in his life that present as facts, hearsay, as well as including moments that are invented.

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I’ll repeat – AT ETERNITY’S GATE is a visual illustration of this time in Vincent’s life. Visual illustration! Now, this does not mean that AT ETERNITY’S GATE is a silent film. There is dialogue, but it is spasmodic and doesn’t contribute a great deal towards what is a slowly-forming plot. There is a gentle and beautiful score present during a number of scenes that depict Vincent meandering through picturesque landscapes. That same score is also played while we watch him sketch and paint for several minutes at a time. The segments that personally peaked my interest the most were Vincent’s (mostly) one on one conversations with the likes of Paul Gaugin (Oscar Isaac), his brother Theo (Rupert Friend) and The Priest (a small appearance by Mads Mikkelsen). Almost all of the aforementioned is captured via handheld cinematography.

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For most part, AT ETERNITY’S GATE is a total snooze-fest! Though these years of Vincent’s life were arguably some of his most momentous, the scenes depicting this are rarely attention-diverting and come off as inconsequential. An unfulfilling screenplay is partially at-fault, but what really messes things up here is the unnecessary and disconnecting handheld camerawork. I cannot see any value in opting for this style of filmmaking from start to end. Especially when considering it is a film that has a stronger dependency on its visual component than most. Finally, aged in his early sixties, Willem Dafoe is a risky and rather strange choice to portray Vincent van Gogh in his mid-thirties. His Oscar-nominated performance is as strong as expected, but not strong enough alone to recommend watching this film.