I'm afraid I have cast my vote with the philistines on this one. I thought this was a static biopic with a terrible screenplay and with the exception of Colette Marchand, mediocre acting. I'm fascinated that so many people thought Ferrer did such good work and I'm wondering if this is because they viewed the movie in the theater as opposed to TV. Perhaps, his "compressed" emotional state translated better when his 4'2" body was viewed at 10' 6". I sorta doubt it.
I have to say that as an admirer of Huston's films my expectations were high. His best films have a vitality and freshness that transcend the era they were made in. This one, for me, did not. Yes, there were plenty of tableaux vivant but after a while I felt that Huston was merely amusing himself with these recreations once he realized the film was DOA with a leaden, unimaginative script. Perhaps, he, like Lautrec, should have focused on the art instead of the artist's unhappy love life for dramatic material. One feels the heavy hand of the studio in the placement of the "romance" in the foreground and in the insertion of zaftig talent-free starlet Zsa Zsa as the tall, angular and probably far more interesting Jane Avril.
Huston was a complicated man with a great thirst for veracity in his depictions of the human experience. That's why The African Queen or The Asphalt Jungle never seem dated and why even lesser films like Night of the Iguana have moments of startling realism. Aside from bringing Lautrec's posters to life, this movie has to be regarded as one of his failures.
I have to say that as an admirer of Huston's films my expectations were high. His best films have a vitality and freshness that transcend the era they were made in. This one, for me, did not. Yes, there were plenty of tableaux vivant but after a while I felt that Huston was merely amusing himself with these recreations once he realized the film was DOA with a leaden, unimaginative script. Perhaps, he, like Lautrec, should have focused on the art instead of the artist's unhappy love life for dramatic material. One feels the heavy hand of the studio in the placement of the "romance" in the foreground and in the insertion of zaftig talent-free starlet Zsa Zsa as the tall, angular and probably far more interesting Jane Avril.
Huston was a complicated man with a great thirst for veracity in his depictions of the human experience. That's why The African Queen or The Asphalt Jungle never seem dated and why even lesser films like Night of the Iguana have moments of startling realism. Aside from bringing Lautrec's posters to life, this movie has to be regarded as one of his failures.