Georgia O'Keeffe's lush still lifes and sensuous landscapes come to life in director Bob Balaban's biopic of the artist. Balaban positions New Mexico's stark terrain as a place that provides solace and peace for O'Keeffe (Joan Allen), whose tumultuous, impassioned relationship with photographer Alfred Stieglitz (Jeremy Irons) contributed to a mid-career nervous breakdown.
The film, which originally aired on Lifetime , tracks the couple's brash meeting in New York City, their art-fueled romance, and rocky later years, when O'Keeffe's career eclipsed her mentor's – the pain of which he remedied with the company of a younger lover.
Balaban's portrayal of the desert as O'Keeffe's sanctuary and lifelong muse seems exceedingly accurate. Like the subject matters of O'Keeffe's oil-brushed canvases, the movie's pace is controlled and ponderous, which can feel tedious, though the overall effect is more meditative than tiring.
Allen and Irons give compelling performances, fully inhabiting the anguish that inspired the great Georgia O'Keeffe's titillating flowers and flawless desert scenery.
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Georgia O'Keeffe (2009)
Available on DVD
Georgia O'Keeffe's lush still lifes and sensuous landscapes come to life in director Bob Balaban's biopic of the artist. Balaban positions New Mexico's stark terrain as a place that provides solace and peace for O'Keeffe (Joan Allen), whose tumultuous, impassioned relationship with photographer Alfred Stieglitz (Jeremy Irons) contributed to a mid-career nervous breakdown.
The film, which originally aired on Lifetime , tracks the couple's brash meeting in New York City, their art-fueled romance, and rocky later years, when O'Keeffe's career eclipsed her mentor's – the pain of which he remedied with the company of a younger lover.
Balaban's portrayal of the desert as O'Keeffe's sanctuary and lifelong muse seems exceedingly accurate. Like the subject matters of O'Keeffe's oil-brushed canvases, the movie's pace is controlled and ponderous, which can feel tedious, though the overall effect is more meditative than tiring.
Allen and Irons give compelling performances, fully inhabiting the anguish that inspired the great Georgia O'Keeffe's titillating flowers and flawless desert scenery.
--Della Watson