Diane Von Furstenberg and husband Barry Diller hosted a screening of the French film “Cezanne et Moi” at the Whitby Hotel in New York City on Wednesday March 22nd 2017.
Fran Lebowitz, Bob Balaban, Ellen Burstyn, Brigitte Lacombe, Marina Abramovic, Anh Duong, Guillaume Gallienne, and Anne McNally were some of the guests in attendance.
The fashion designer, and former CFDA president, had seen the movie three times and called Cezanne masterpiece when introducing it to her guests. She also praised the writer and director of the movie, Daniele Thompson.
Thompson spoke about the stages of creating such a visually stunning project. From the writing of the screenplay, to the makeup, costume design, she described it as an abstract sentiment until the first day of shooting where everything came together.
The film explores the life long friendship between post-impressionism artist, Paul Cezanne and writer Emile Zola in a way that has not been known to many. Both of them grew up in the south of France, and even though they came from very different backgrounds, they continued to be in each other’s lives.
It was very interesting to see how someone who is one of the most famous names in art from the 19th century, did not receive such recognition for most of his life. The movie allows the viewer to understand Cezanne’s dynamic with his paintings and most importantly the effect of people around him.
One scene clearly depicts his volatile personality. Cezanne gets into a fight at the Salon des Refusés when he hears someone criticizing nudity in a painting. This is a place that would showcase the rejected artists from the official Paris Salon where some of Cezanne’s contemporaries would be. Manet was one of Cezanne’s friend who made it into the Salon and later on reached success which clearly caused friction between the two.
The actor playing Cezanne, Guillaume Gallienne, said that he could relate to Cezanne’s volatility. “This role is a very large persona. It is almost as if he was a theatrical character, but he had incredible rage while having an immense sensibility, which I have in common with him.”
Daniele Thompson clearly took the time to create each scene in a way that allowed the viewer to immerse into Cezanne’s paintings and most importantly into the real artists mindset. Cezanne et Moi will be in theaters in New York City on April 7th.
