An Artist and His Muse
By Skip Sheffield
There have been countless stories of artists and their
muses, dating back to Dante and even before.
“The Artist and the Model” is another such story, but it is a particularly, artfully realized fable by Spanish writer-director Fernando Trueba.
Trueba dedicates the film to Maximo Trueba. I learned he was
a sculptor and the brother of Fernando. Maximo’s life was cut short in 1996 an
auto accident at age 42. There is a lot of fascinating back story to this
project. The origin dates to 1990, when Fernando and Maximo planned to
collaborate.
Maximo’s death was just two years after Fernando Trueba won
the Best Foreign Language Academy Award for “La Belle Époque” in 1994.
Shot in sparkling black-and-white, with French language and set
in the South of France near the Spanish border in the summer of 1943, “The
Artist and the Model” is a lovely tribute not only to Maximo Trueba, but to
artists everywhere who struggle to harness, mold and maintain their artistic
inspiration.
The artist of the story, Marc Cros, is played by the great
French actor Jean Rochefort. Rochefort told Fernando Trueba he was planning to
retire, which gave the director a sense of urgency.
Rochefort is now 83. We are fortunate Trueba was able to
persuade Rochefort to take on the role of a character a lot like himself.
Marc Cros is a famous French sculptor who retreated to his
house and has not set foot in his studio since France was overrun by the Nazis.
Marc lives with his devoted wife Lea (one-time Italian
sexpot Claudia Cardinale, still beautiful) who was once his model and inspiration. After a lifetime together she knows
him better than anyone.
One day Lea is in the village marketplace with her
housekeeper Maria (Chus Lampreave) when she spots a tattered but pretty young
woman asleep on a doorstep.
Lea knows at first glance that the woman; a Spanish refugee
named Merce (Aida Folch), is just the type who could inspire Marc as a model.
Merce is a rough and tumble girl who has been involved in
smuggling rebels out of Gen. Franco’s fascist Spain . She is also a stunning
beauty with a voluptuous body; perfect for the sensuous female shapes Marc
creates out of clay with his hands before the sculptures are recast in marble
or bronze.
The artist states at the outset his model must be
comfortable posing completely nude.
Merce is a little shy at first, but she learns to let go her
inhibitions while learning about the mysteries of artistic inspiration from the
master. It becomes clear this will be the artist’s last work. Possibly it will
be his crowing achievement.
The movie is very sensuous and bold in its depiction of
artful nudity, but it also has its funny and dramatic diversions. School
children are intrigued with the prospect of a naked woman lounging in the old artist’s
studio. On a nighttime walk Merce encounters Pierre (Martin Gamet), a wounded
French resistance fighter. She convinces Marc to harbor him, despite the steady
threat of occupying Germans.
One of these is an officer named Werner (Gotz Otto), who
oddly enough is an art aficionado, admirer and author of a forthcoming biography of Marc
Cros.
“The Artist and the Model” is not only visually sumptuous,
the language of the artist praising female form and inherent moral
superiority is quite poetic. You may not agree with this cranky old artist, but
you will find his words quite inspiring.
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