With seven French Academy Awards to its name, Seraphine might be the year’s most honored film. In a small town in France prior to World War I, the frumpy, middle-aged Seraphine Louis (Yolande Moreau) is a hard-working housekeeper for the town’s elite. Seraphine spends her evenings painting, claiming an order from her guardian angel one day told her to leave the convent and become an artist. When the German art critic Wilhelm Uhde (Ulrich Tukur) discovers her work, she is set on an unexpected path towards fame and fortune.
But the film is not a simple rags-to-riches story. Director Martin Provost focuses intently on Seraphine’s delusions of fame and fortune, showing how her devout Catholicism has left her incredibly conflicted and emotionally unbalanced. The film’s star is undoubtedly Moreau, who shines as the troubled painter and somehow turns Seraphine’s plainness into moments of pure beauty. Far from portraying the cliché temperamental artist, Moreau utilizes subtle expressions and actions to bring an enigmatic complexity to a seemingly simple exterior.
