Wrier/director James Lucas’ “Moss & Freud” is a portrait of the professional collaboration and friendship between supermodel Kate Moss (Ellie Bamber) and artist Lucien Freud (Derek Jacobi), whose 2002 painted portrait of Moss were noteworthy.
At least, that’s what the film is telling us.
This has been presented as “Based on a True Story.” I don’t mean to be a cynic, but a major problem I had with this film is that it shares the view that this artistic teaming was the groundbreaking synergy that the filmmaker suggests.
Despite the strong work of the actors, the film left me underwhelmed.
Moss (well played by Bamber, despite having no resemblance to the real Moss) is presented as a wild card who was paired with Freud, who matches her boldness in his approach to painting her in the nude. Jacobi, at 87, plays Freud with expected grace and skill.
It’s always a treat to see him work, whether on stage or in film.
In addition to questioning how earth shaking the Moss/Freud collaboration proved to be overall, there’s also the line where someone notes about Moss, “You are Greta Garbo and Bridgette Bardot.” I’m not arguing that Moss is beautiful, famous and a trendsetter, but in this particular age of supermodels, the runway belonged to Cindy Crawford, Tyra Banks and Claudia Schiffer, period.
Lucas gives this a glossy hardness, making the film come across as tough as Moss was, a good touch. Likewise, the soundtrack has solid tunes that aren’t overused needle drops that take us out of the story.
At one point, Moss goes to an S+M club, which should have a greater impact on the narrative or, at the very least, provide a shocking interlude. As is, it’s a scene that adds surprisingly little. The film lives and breathes by the scenes of Bamber and Jacobi playing Moss and Freud in his studio.
The dialogue is mostly stilted and doesn’t pull you in like it should, even as Freud is exclaiming that this is “the process of creation!”
Despite the spirited performances, nothing here, not the dialogue, performances or storytelling approach, are anywhere on the level with Steven Soderbergh’s “The Christophers.” Despite lots of nudity and the solid work of the actors, there’s little passion in “Moss and Freud.”
Soderbergh’s film is a master class on this subject, whereas this is the lesser of the two.
Moss was certainly ubiquitous in the latter half of the 20th century but if you’re going to capture an artistic and cultural lightning rod of this era, make it a film about the time Cindy Crawford made that Pepsi commercial.
Two Stars (out of four)
The post Supermodel Meets Artistic Genius in Underwhelming ‘Moss & Freud’ appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.
from Movies - Hollywood in Toto https://ift.tt/gRSH7AM
0 Comments: