The rubbish Hancock improvises while trying to explain his art to Paul is drawn almost word for word from the effusions of pre-World War One abstractionists like Kandinsky. The artists arguing in the cafe (including Oliver Reed) have also lifted their dialogue from genuine art theories of the past.
Tony is a naive artist suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect. He just has no idea how lousy his paintings are. But he manages to convince the Parisian art crowd of blank-faced Existentialists that he is a genius. I love this chorus of white faced, black-clad women with their lank, straggly hair. The hairstyle became mainstream ten years on, but in the late 50s it was really revolutionary - see the ladies who come to Tony's private view (wangled by passing another painter's work off as his own). The late 50s was an awful moment for "proper" fashion.
Once Tony becomes famous, the film begins to drag, and there's a tedious scene on a millionaire's yacht that I fast-forwarded over. Tho Hancock really can dance, can't he? The fictional Tony's paintings, though naive, are not thaaaaat bad. Couldn't he have become a Douanier Rousseau? I wouldn't mind hanging that painting of the Parisian skyline on my wall.
I'd love to know who painted the "rubbish", and who produced Paul's paintings, which are not bad either.
Tony is a naive artist suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect. He just has no idea how lousy his paintings are. But he manages to convince the Parisian art crowd of blank-faced Existentialists that he is a genius. I love this chorus of white faced, black-clad women with their lank, straggly hair. The hairstyle became mainstream ten years on, but in the late 50s it was really revolutionary - see the ladies who come to Tony's private view (wangled by passing another painter's work off as his own). The late 50s was an awful moment for "proper" fashion.
Once Tony becomes famous, the film begins to drag, and there's a tedious scene on a millionaire's yacht that I fast-forwarded over. Tho Hancock really can dance, can't he? The fictional Tony's paintings, though naive, are not thaaaaat bad. Couldn't he have become a Douanier Rousseau? I wouldn't mind hanging that painting of the Parisian skyline on my wall.
I'd love to know who painted the "rubbish", and who produced Paul's paintings, which are not bad either.