Synopsis
In 1891, the French painter Paul Gauguin leaves Paris and travels to Tahiti to renew his art as a free man, far from the European artistic conventionalism. On his journey of discovery, he faces solitude and disease, but he also knows the beauty of wild nature and the love of Tehura, a young native girl who becomes his wife and model.
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Cast
- Vincent CasselPaul Gauguin
- Tuheï AdamsTehura
- Malik ZidiHenri Vallin
- Pua-Taï HikutiniJotepha
- Pernille BergendorffMette Gauguin
- Marc BarbéStéphane Mallarmé
- Paul JeansonÉmile Bernard
- Scali DelpeyratHector, the Art Dealer
- Victor BoulengerArt Dealer's Assistant
- Cédric EeckhoutMeijer de Haan
Recommendations
- 83
Christian Science Monitor
It’s a perplexing, fascinating, maddening movie, not quite like any other film biography of a famous painter, most of which tend to be equal parts ho-hum and hokum. - 70
Los Angeles Times
The film takes liberties with certain truths about Gauguin and his time in the tropics, yet despite — or maybe because of — its concoctions manages to produce a highly compelling central character. - 70
Village Voice
Cassel’s Gauguin may ultimately be a lightweight cinematic descendant of the monstrous European pioneers that Klaus Kinski played in Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo, but he’s also both menacing and pitiable enough to make Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti riveting on a moment-to-moment basis. - 63
Film Journal International
Cassel, one of France's singular talents, delivers an absorbing performance, committing to his role on both mental and physical levels. - 60
New York Magazine (Vulture)
Although the script is based on Gauguin’s own writing, the film presents him as such a gloomy Gus that he might have swapped souls with his onetime pal Van Gogh. - 50
The Hollywood Reporter
What keeps the material from feeling too scattershot is the vitality of Cassel’s performance, which is full of life even when he’s not always in the best of health. He’s a much-needed charismatic center that almost manages to keep the entire enterprise together. - 50
RogerEbert.com
The film is beautiful in spots, and features a believably tormented performance by Vincent Cassel as Gauguin, but unfortunately it has only a hazy idea of what it wants to be about. - 50
Observer
The film has beautiful cinematography and occasional peaks of high drama, but lacks the kind of significant tempo necessary to sustain enough interest for nearly two hours to keep a viewer focused.
