Synopsis
A portrait of Austrian artist Gustav Klimt whose lavish, sexual paintings came to symbolize the art nouveau style of the late 19th and early 20th century.
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Cast
- John MalkovichGustav Klimt
- Veronica FerresMidi
- Saffron Burrowsmia
- Nikolai KinskiEgon Schiele
- Stephen DillaneSecretary
- Sandra CeccarelliSerena Lederer
- Aglaia SzyszkowitzMizzi
- Joachim BißmeierHugo Moritz
- Ernst StötznerMinister Hartl
- Paul HiltonDuke Octave
Recommendations
- 70
The Hollywood Reporter
The result is a pleasingly discursive film that depicts Klimt and the ideals and locales of fin de siecle Vienna. - 50
L.A. Weekly
Ruiz is so intent on harnessing the painter to his own -- here, rather arid -- relativism that he never manages to convey the unfettered eros that brings crowds flocking to exhibitions of Klimt’s work, even as critics hold their noses. - 50
Los Angeles Times
Klimt comes alive only fitfully at best, and it seems that for those occasional moments when it comes into focus there is an equal number that are merely silly. - 50
The New York Times
The shortened version is lovely to look at, but the stilted dialogue and crude overdubbing in scenes where English is not spoken often make it an impenetrable hodgepodge. - 50
TV Guide Magazine
Raoul Ruiz's absurdly overwrought phantasmagoria tries to recast the notorious Viennese artist's life as a kind of Divine Comedy: Inferno. - 40
Variety
Billed as a phantasmagoria rather than a biopic, Klimt falls into the philosophical conundrum it attempts to resurrect -- whether portrait and allegory can coexist. Notwithstanding moments of great beauty, in this case the answer is clearly "no." - 25
San Francisco Chronicle
A good bio of any historical character has to have a compelling story, whether evil or good. Klimt appears to have had that story. I sure would have liked to know what it was.
