Exploring Vincent van Gogh's love
ONE of the major scenes that stood out immediately was that of the conversation between Armand Roulin (played by Douglas Booth) and Peré Tanguy (played by John Sessions). Roulin had asked Tanguy about the last time he had interacted with modern art painter Vincent van Gogh and what his impressions were of him, to which Tanguy replied: “The last time I saw Vincent, he looked calm, he looked like he was at peace. He looked like he had won the revolution.”
Directors Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman created this unimaginable film that transports viewers to watch how those who were closest to Van Gogh reacted to the news of his passing in 1890. The first of its kind, Loving Vincent was produced entirely using the special features of paint, with many painters imitating Van Gogh’s style of painting throughout the film.
The story follows the journey of Roulin, who searches for Van Gogh’s younger brother, Theo. In his possession is a letter handed to him by his father, (postman Joseph Roulin) that was written by Vincent before he died.
Roulin fails in this quest, and so sets out to find a new owner for Van Gogh’s last letter instead.
While searching, Roulin becomes intrigued about the true reason for Van Gogh’s tragic passing at the peak of his artistic career. He refuses to believe that Van Gogh had committed suicide.
Throughout the journey, Roulin interacts with a number of characters, including Van Gogh’s therapist, Doctor Gachet; the boatman, Adeline Ravoux; and Gachet’s daughter, Marguerite, who had either interacted with or seen Vincent during his stay in Auvers-sur-Oise, France.
The characters throughout the film all plant a seed of doubt and curiosity in Roulin’s impressionable mind. He even struggles to make sense of his own theories until he finally meets Doctor Gachet, which is the most revealing moment of the film.
The combination of the roles of Roulin, Adeline Ravoux (played Eleanor Thompson) and that of Vincent van Gogh (played by Robert Gulaczyk) makes the film as compelling as it is. Adeline Ravoux successfully gains a friend through Roulin, but uses it to her advantage when she gives Roulin her own account of Van Gogh’s last days alive, told so convincingly that it creates in Roulin the impression that Van Gogh’s act of suicide could not be the ultimate cause of his death.
Gulaczyk portrays Van Gogh in silence, yet his presence in the film overshadows the others. His facial expressions and paintings seem to tell Van Gogh’s story without really revealing anything at all.
Both Van Gogh and Roulin go through moments of melancholy, confusion, denial and acceptance through their different lenses of life, with Vincent’s ending in the culmination of suicide, and Roulin’s ending with a version of the truth from the mouth of Doctor Gachet and the return to his father with the news.