Edvard Munch : The Film

"Kitty Griffing" and I had plans to go to the art museum after work for dinner and a movie.

When we arrived, "Kitty" took me to the Ingalls Library, deep in the bowels of the museum. As I have been going to the museum since I was an infant, it was disturbing to me that I had never set foot in this library.

Well, it was amazing. The best part was the periodicals room, which has every art and photography magazine imaginable just sitting there...I was in heaven. Then, the icing on the cake, the back wall had countless auction catalogues for Sotheby's and Christie's, and "Kitty" and I spent a good long time oohing and ahhing over great works of art being auctioned off. Now I am obsessing about collecting auction catalogues. It is very to interesting to not only see what is available, but to see the value placed on it.

So we dragged ourselves away and went to the museum cafe for dinner, where I got a very nice Mediterranean chicken with corn relish and red potatoes and "Kitty" had a melange of cold salads. We took our meal outside to the courtyard, which we practically had to ourselves and had a lovely time dining by the fountain amidst some fine sculpture.

Then it was time to go see Edvard Munch, a film by Peter Watkins from 1974. The film received rave reviews such as:

"A work of genius." Ingmar Bergman

and

A classic of world cinema, EDVARD MUNCH is considered the summit of the artist biography film ...

Most reviews I read in preparation tended to be positive, though there were some critics who found the film repetitive and exaggerated. "Kitty" and I would be in that the latter camp.

First of all, it was three hours long. And three hours of repetitive scenes, replayed over and over (The definition of repetitive, I am aware), and silent, longing looks between Munch and his mistress...dull dull dull.

There was one brilliant scene, showing Munch creating his 1885 work, The Sick Child, in which he attacks, scores, and brutalizes the canvas. The sound of the scraping and the intensity in which the scene is filmed, left my pulse racing, and I was thinking that the previously tedious film was turning a corner, but no, it immediately returned to its insipid storyline revolving around the mistress. I am sure she influenced his art tremendously and all, but I really wanted to see more of his process, not endless emotional masturbation.

I have rarely been so happy when the credits start to roll as I was on this night.

Leaving the museum, the temperature had dropped about 10 degrees and it was down right cold outside. Which necessitated a stop at Starbuck's, for warmth, and to keep me awake for the long drive home after the three hour tranquilizer....