Review 335: Big Eyes
In the late 1950s and early '60s, artist Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz) achieves unbelievable fame and success with his portraits of saucer-eyed waifs. However, no one realises that his wife, Margaret (Amy Adams), is the real painter behind the brush. Although Margaret is horrified to learn that Walter is passing off her work as his own, she is too meek to protest too loudly.
It isn't until the Keanes' marriage comes to an end and a lawsuit follows that the truth finally comes out.
The plot is a beautiful work of art, at the heart of it, it's a story about a woman, one woman learning to stand up for herself.
It's a very simple story, but it's a remarkable true story nonetheless.
Big Eyes is very much a social commentary of art fraudulence: Margret Keane was an artist who painted all these revolutionary paintings that started taking over the world, but she never got any credit for her work, because her husband always took credit for the work she was making and that is one of the
Margret Keane was living a lie that had been forced upon her by her new husband and this film is about her breaking through the boundaries of that lie and
Director Tim Burton's direction is precise and masterful, the cinematography is gorgeous and I mean gorgeous, some of the landscapes genuinly do look like they have been painted. Tim Burton has not lost his touch as a visual artsit. The scenery is breathtaking, the score by Danny Elfman is wonderful, the production design is magnificent and captures the beauty and class of the 50's and 60's, the costumes are mystical, the locations are stunning and the climax in the courtroom is astonishing.
The acting is tremendous, Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz is stunning in their roles as Margret and Walter Keane respectively.
Adams beautifully captures the vulnerability, sadness and curiosity of Margret Keane and the way she brings all these elements to life on screen is just magical. This woman churned out hundreds of paintings and copies of paintings, all in her husbands name without receiving any credit for herself.
Margret fell for Walter in the first place because he seemed like an incredibly talented and charming person but once they were married he became a polar opposite and from there, she started this descent into this very introverted and isolated woman who had no one to turn to and is very submissive of Walter and this film is very much a journey of empowerment as she gets the courage to leave him and eventually the courage to tell the truth and reclaim her name and her relationship with her daughter.
Christoph Waltz is stunning as Walter Keane, he is a very interesting character, someone who is charming and charismatic but also someone who's controlling and menacing at the same time, he is a terrific contradiction of a human. There is a sort of sadness to him, even though he was a horrible person, everyone has different sides to them and Waltz portrays that splendidly.
He sweeps Margaret off her feet
Danny Huston is also very strong in this film
Terence Stamp is simply fantastic playing art critic John Canaday, he positively steals every single scene he's in
Krysten Ritter and Jason Schwartzman
So who was the Artist? 4.5/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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