Séraphine is a movie by Martin Provost, starring Yolande Moreau and Ulrich Tukur.

Plot:
Séraphine is a biopic about naive painter Séraphine Louis.
Séraphine (Yolande Moreau) lives in a small town in France where she works a lot of cleaning jobs to be able to afford painting materials. All her free time is spent with painting, which is inspired mostly by nature and religious imagery. One day German gallery owner and art collector Wilhelm Uhde (Ulrich Tukur) moves to her village. By chance he stumbles upon her work and is immediately entranced. What follows is Séraphine’s long way to recognition.

The movie had some lengths but mostly it was absolutely excellent. And I’m not just saying this because I have a total crush on Ulrich Tukur. [But for the sake of honesty, I should mention it.] Cast, script and cinematography are made of win.

Before seeing this movie I hadn’t heard of Séraphine Louis, ever. And I don’t really care for naive art. And yet, the movie gave me a sense of appreciation for it that I really didn’t expect. I don’t know exactly how, but I could totally see Uhde’s fascination with these paintings. Maybe I’m starting to convert to naive art. Especially Séraphine’s late work did it for me.

But apart from the art, Séraphine is an absolutely fascinating character. She oscillates between batshit insane, religious fervour, mental disability and just plain weird. Yolande Moreau deserves all the accolades in the world for her subtle, honest and loving performance of this incredible woman.

And can I just point out a few things I especially loved:

1. Main character in this movie not only a woman, but a (a) middle-aged, (b) talented, (c) driven, (d) overweight woman (e) with some serious mental issues.
2. Second main character is a gay man and it is not important to the plot in any way. [I guess real life helped with this point.]
3. The movie passes the Bechdel test with flying colours.

So, despite the fact that the movie could have been 10, 15 minutes shorter, I’d recommend it. And I want to see more movies like it.