Loving Vincent is an animated biography film about the life and death of painter, Vincent van Gogh. Loving Vincent was one of the most creative films I have ever seen. I absolutely love that it was a painted film.I think of the film like it is a moving Vincent van Gogh painting. Although the animation may be able to attract kids, the actual details of the movie are not like your typical “happy animation” film. While watching Loving Vincent,I questioned whether, aside from when he was painting, if there were any times that he was actually happy.
The film includes Joseph and Armand Roulin who are based on real members of the Roulin family. Vincent painted group portrait paintings of the Roulin family members which included postman, Joseph Roulin, his wife Augustine and their three children: Armand, Camille and Marcelle. During Vincent’s childhood, the film briefly addressed that he “couldn’t fit in.” Vincent had a stillborn brother and he felt like, in his mother’s eyes, he could never measure up to his deceased brother. However, Vincent and his younger brother, Theo van Gogh, were close and Theo became very depressed and withdrawn after Vincent’s death. In real life, it was described that Theo was very fascinated with Vincent and admired him. However, their communication was difficult because of distance,which probably resulted in the exchange of letters. However, the letters were away for the brothers to be able to keep up with each other’s lives. One year after Vincent van Gogh’s suicide, Joseph Roulin asks his son Armand to deliver Van Gogh’s last letter to his brother, Theo. However, it is later revealed that Theo died six months after Vincent.
In my opinion, even though Vincent’s life was complicated, his death, which was fairly the focus of the movie, was even more difficult and mysterious. It seemed like everyone had a story to tell about his death, and I still feel like it is a mystery because there was no suicide note stating why he chose to kill himself. Also, the film includes the idea that Vincent didn’t kill himself. Rene Secretan was a local bully who used to flash his gun and harass Vincent. After hearing a few people talk around,Armand began to suspect Rene shot Vincent. Equally important, his items were removed from the field where he shot himself. Throughout the film, many people were confused as to why Vincent killed himself because they said he seemed “fine.” I don’t know how true these details are but the movie did make me question a lot about his death. For example, who moved his items, why were they moved, and why did he kill himself? Also, the movie briefly pays attention to Vincent’s real life mental illness. The film includes Dr. Gatchet, who was a subject in one of Vincent’s real portraits. Dr. Gatchet took care of Vincent during his final moments (this was also displayed in the film). Towards the end of the film, Dr. Gachet said Vincent suffered from melancholia, meaning he would be joyful one minute and in the next few hours he would be in deep depression. To me that sounds like bipolar disorder, but this just goes to show that you never really know what disturbing challenges some people have to face even though they may appear to be okay. Furthermore, Dr. Gachet told Armand that he told Vincent that the burden of him is killing his brother, Theo, who was in bad health. Dr. Gachet knew he shouldn’t have said that to Vincent and if this is true, I think, aside from other issues in his life, Vincent killed himself because he no longer wanted to be a burden and stressor to his brother and in result, be a contributor to his death.
Loving Vincent may cause viewers to feel sorry for Vincent because he didn’t have a happy, “normal” life. He only seemed content when he was painting for hours. The film may have an effect on what viewers think about Van Gogh’s work because instead of looking at his work as something “beautiful,” the film makes you think about Vincent’s mental state while he was doing a painting or did his mental health contribute to his creativity to produce such paintings.Also, according to the film, it is sad that the last known news he heard was that he was a burden to the only person who truly believed in him and admired him.
