At Eternity’s Gate (2018)
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At Eternity’s Gate Movie Review
At Eternity’s Gate is a 2018 biographical film directed by Julian Schnabel and starring Willem Dafoe as Vincent van Gogh. It’s one of the year’s most pleasant surprises.
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“I’ve always been a painter.
That I know“
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The film is about the final turbulent years of this famous painter. And the film is so good that it made someone like me intrigued, somebody who doesn’t really like his works and still do not like them. However, the plot is so intricate and the movie is so intriguing that it kept me invested throughout, despite some slower parts and an overall languid pace to it.
I adored some scenes here and especially the dialogue. The movie is filled with fascinating conversation after fascinating conversation and the highlights are the examination of art and the statement about being struck by genius, that was very truthful and of course his conversation with the priest so wonderfully played by Mads Mikkelsen. In that conversation we see that he realized that he was ahead of his time and that he would be appreciated decades from his period and I found that absolutely fascinating, even if it wasn’t true.
Willem Dafoe’s performance here is by far one of the best, maybe even the finest of the entire year when it comes to male actors. He isn’t talked about enough, but he’s actually better than all the other nominees in the Best Actor category and he really caught me by surprise here as he channeled van Gogh’s inner turmoil beautifully and he genuinely delivered a heartfelt performance that definitely makes an impact upon the viewer. He’s outstanding here.
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At Eternity’s Gate had some weaker parts, including some of the first act. I also found some characters less memorable, but all are well portrayed by the film’s talented cast. I loved the scenes in the nature as the film’s gorgeously shot and actually rather atmospheric. The direction and score are good too. it’s a movie about art that actually felt artistic and had something to say about art itself which led to a very effective experiment on all of those fronts.
Although not talked about nearly enough as he deserves, Willem Dafoe is absolutely outstanding in At Eternity’s Gate where he delivered a genuinely heartfelt, superb performance in the role of Vincent van Gogh in his later tortured years which are here portrayed in a very intriguing manner through a plethora of simply fascinating conversations about his plight during his life and art itself. It’s thus a highly effective, artistic movie which is languid in pace, but nonetheless mostly very riveting to watch.
