Actress’s talent at painting a vital part of her latest role
In the new romantic comedy Words and Pictures, a rolling office chair becomes a tool for art creation.
Juliette Binoche, as an art teacher whose ability to paint is affected by her rheumatoid arthritis, lies on her stomach across the chair, picks up a paintbrush and swivels from one part to another of the canvas on the floor.
Passion and pain become a part of each stroke — as Binoche both plays a visual artist and is one in real life.
The film, set for limited release on Friday and due for a nationwide rollout in June, follows the competitive relationship between the art teacher and an English teacher (Clive Owen) at a prep school.
Both have strong opinions about which medium of expression matters most. The paintings by Binoche’s character, Dina Delsanto, are seen in various finished and unfinished forms throughout the movie.
Binoche created all of the canvases herself.
The actress came by her love of painting early, she said, when her mother bought her a large collection of art books as a child.
She took lessons as a youngster and, even though she eventually moved into acting, the visual arts stayed with her.
Her skills have been seen on-screen before: She created her own images playing a street artist in The Lovers on the Bridge in 1991.
But her art is a greater part of the plot in Words and Pictures, with more of it shown.
“I didn’t fully know how much of an artist Juliette was,” director Fred Schepisi said by phone.
Only after the actress showed him examples of her work during a Skype conversation did he realize that she could make the film paintings herself.
Dina’s background is in portraiture, but her images grow more abstract as her condition worsens.
Binoche, 50, who is experienced with portraits, had to figure out how to make that transition on canvas.
She was inspired by the bold, colorful strokes in the paintings of her friend Fabienne Verdier.
“I had always been fascinated by her painting, so I suggested her tools, brushes that are heavy and big,” Binoche said by phone.
In both the movie and Verdier’s studio, those brushes are mounted on beams that hang from the ceiling.
“I thought it was an interesting brush for my character, because she doesn’t have to hold it by herself.”
Schepisi had two cameras roll to record her painting.
“It was an adventurous but great way of going,” he said, “because it has that reality of trial and error actually happening on-screen and not having to be faked.”