Synopsis
The tragic story of French naïve painter Séraphine Louis aka Séraphine de Senlis (1864-1942), a humble servant who becomes a gifted self-taught painter. Discovered by prominent critic and collector William Uhde, she came to prominence between the wars grouped with other naïve painters like Henri Rouseau only to descend into madness and obscurity with the onset of Great Depression and World War II.
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Cast
- Yolande MoreauSéraphine Louis, dite Séraphine de Senlis
- Ulrich TukurWilhelm Uhde
- Anne BennentAnne-Marie Uhde
- Geneviève MnichMme Duphot
- Nico RognerHelmut Kolle
- Adélaïde LerouxMinouche
Recommendations
- 100
Los Angeles Times
What makes Seraphine, directed and co-written by Martin Provost, so exceptional is that it neither condescends to nor romanticizes its subject. - 100
Christian Science Monitor
The scene is so emotionally ravishing that it breaks you apart. The peacefulness that finally descends on Séraphine in the film's final moments is more than a balm. It's a benediction. - 91
Entertainment Weekly
Moreau is bewitching -- she simply breathes her role, without a hint of vanity. - 90
New York Magazine (Vulture)
Séraphine is one of the most evocative films about an artist I've ever seen--and in its treatment of madness one of the least condescending. - 80
Variety
An extraordinary performance by vet thesp Yolande Moreau in the title role. - 80
Village Voice
Séraphine's dependence on her patron--a cultivated but emotionally detached homosexual, who knew a fellow outsider when he saw one but came and went in her life without warning--is almost as unbearably moving as her inevitable unraveling--when money and fame cut the artist off from her creative wellsprings and drove her over the edge. - 80
The New York Times
The mystery of Séraphine de Senlis -- who died in a mental hospital in 1942 and whose work survives in some of the world’s leading museums -- is left intact at the end of Séraphine. Rather than trying to explain Séraphine, the film accepts her. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
Moving historical drama brings a fascinating chapter of art history to life.
