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Slideshow

PREVIOUSLY PLAYED

Henri-Georges Clouzot’s
THE MYSTERY OF PICASSO

MUST END THURSDAY, MARCH 21!

6:00 ONLY

NEW 4K RESTORATION

From the director of Le Corbeau, Wages of Fear, and Diabolique

(1956) “To be able to understand a painter’s mind, one need only follow his hand.” A white screen. And then lines, points, shades almost magically appear, sometimes in real time, with the squeak of each brushstroke resonating; sometimes in seemingly continuous animation, or dramatically appearing whole in stages, to Georges Auric’s festively thunderous music. Pablo Picasso at work, drawing in inks and oils on semi-transparent materials, while Clouzot’s camera observes the results from behind. Twenty works resulted from the hand of the master (all reportedly consigned to the flames afterwards), allowing us to understand the mind of the most influential artist of the 20th century. DCP. Approx. 78 min.

Presented with support from the George Fasel Memorial Fund for Classic French Cinema

A MILESTONE FILMS RELEASE

Reviews

“ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING AND JOYFUL MOVIES EVER MADE!... [Picasso] seems to take art back to an earlier function, before the centuries of museums and masterpieces; he is the artist as clown, as conjurer, as master fun-maker.”
– Pauline Kael

“A work by Picasso created before our very eyes! That is a miracle which, if need be, would justify the greatness of cinema.”
– François Truffaut

Film Forum