Columbo (TV Series) Murder, a Self Portrait (1989) User Reviews

One narcissistic murderer

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 29 January 2017]

One of the most narcissistic murderers that Peter Falk ever encountered on Columbo has to be artist Patrick Bauchau. This man lives in a household that numbers at one time, an ex-wife who couldn't do without him, a current wife, and a 'model'. And they're very reason for existence is provide for his needs whatever they might be.

As it turns out one of them the ex-wife Fionnula Flanagan is going and she and her therapist George Coe are now an item. But Bauchau has one deep dark secret that he does not to come out either in session or in pillow talk. For that reason he strangles Flanagan and fakes her drowning.

Even with Bauchau painting a portrait of Peter Falk, Columbo's instincts are aroused. The other two women, Sheri Danese and Isabel Garcia Lorca are also in there on revolt.

I have to say that the evidence Columbo has is mighty thin and Bauchau could get off in court. But if a jury finds him as arrogant and egotistical as I did, he doesn't stand a chance.

There's also a nice supporting bit by bar owner Vito Scotti who did a few Columbo stories. All in all a worthwhile bit of viewing.

Good effort

[zmartever · 7/10 · 14 March 2014]

OK, so i enjoyed this Columbo movie a bit more than the previous ones. Partly because of the lovely scenery, the awesome house by the ocean and a much better musical score than the previous movies from '89. The villain is a narcissistic needy jerk thru-out, a painter, perfect for a guy controlling three different women in his life. His ex-wife, his current wife and his mistress. The actress playing the ex-wife has the most impact and believability. The mistress is the weakest link. The whole thing still doesn't compare to vintage Columbo but it's better than some earlier offerings. Best moment: Columbo sits for the artist and is put in an uncomfortable position. Peter Falk's understated humor is just wonderful. He knows how to milk a scene in a subtle way.

Worth a watch, Breaks From The Mold

[verbusen · 8/10 · 25 January 2011]

I won't say that this ranks as an all time best Columbo, although I have seen many many Columbo episodes there are still many I need to watch. But I can see now how they kept the series going over 3 decades (maybe 4 for all I know), and that is Columbo stays fresh with the times. I picked this episode at random, I had watched an episode with Robert Culp last week from the 70's where he used subliminal film messages (It was OK, good gotcha ending), so to go from that episode to this one showed me how it was able to keep an audience, by staying fresh.

In this episode the killer has on going sexual relations with three women! And they all live within the same house (pretty much). It was fun to watch that alone, very very edgy if you ask me! The crime also did not happen right away, so the suspense was pretty incredible guessing what crime would be committed. I first thought the three women would kill him! On top of that this episode had DREAM SEQUENCES! I've watched many Columbo episodes but don't recall any dream sequences ever!

I agree with another reviewer that the killer capitulated way too easily (ala Perry Mason) and I would also like to throw out that why is a murder detective right on site at a drowning scene before the body is even fished out of the water? Anyway one could rip Columbo apart for many reasons but I have a high level of suspense of belief and it is great entertainment for me.

watch this for the semi poly arraignment (the women are not lovers to each other but are friends) and all it's awkwardness that Columbo has (at least at first), and to see the dream sequences as that is a real rarity in this series. That will make up for the plot holes later on. 8 of 10

Strong beginning, weak ending.

[lightville · 3 December 2002]

Although I haven't seen every Columbo episode there is, I'm certain the pattern is the same: A wealthy and intelligent individual (who is sometimes a celebrity) plans and executes a perfect murder. Then, Columbo enters the scene and since there are no witnesses he has to rely heavily on circumstantial evidence. Columbo finally out-smarts his suspects and arrests the criminal. At this point I always think that in real life this individual will hire a high-paid lawyer who will rip Columbo's case to shreds, but that's material for another movie.

Max Barsini fits perfectly into that typical criminal profile: wealthy and intelligent. But there's one more thing to add: a super-inflated ego, strong enough to dominate three women. Nevertheless, by the second half of the movie his character and his ego starts deflating, and at the end he just simply surrenders without putting up a fight. And that's the disappointment that I had with this episode, and many other episodes, where the person who was smart enough to plan an almost perfect homicide, suddenly succumbs under Columbo's pressure. Of course, not all Columbo's movies end up this way, and therefore I consider them my favorites. Unfortunately this one is not one of them.

Interesting episode that isn't entirely successful

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 26 February 2012]

As a longtime Columbo fan, I in general liked Murder, A Self Portrait, but I don't consider it one of the better episodes. Starting with the problems, I do agree about the ending, the character of Barsini was so strong a vast majority of the episode but the ending where he gives up all too easily I felt weakened his character. I had very mixed feelings on the dream sequences, they are stylishly shot and convincingly played but also convoluted and solved too simply. However Murder, A Self Portrait is beautifully shot with striking scenery and has an atmospheric music score. The dialogue is generally clever and thoughtful, Columbo and Barsini's scenes are fun to watch but I would've loved to have seen more of the other suspects. The story has a few patchy moments here and there and feels a little strtched towards the end, but it is briskly paced and interesting on the whole, and the acting while I have seen better with Columbo episodes is good. Peter Falk as he always is as Columbo is brilliant, and Patrick Bauchau is engaging as Barsini. The support cast don't have as much to do, but Fionnula Flannagan and particularly Shera Danese are good. All in all, an interesting and worthwhile episode, but not one of my favourites. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Interesting use of camera-work

[garrard · 9/10 · 21 January 2006]

"Columbo: Murder, a Self Portrait" was one of the Columbo movies that aired during the early 90's as a part a Saturday night rotation on ABC with "B.L. Stryker" with Burt Reynolds and Telly Savalas's revival of "Kojak". Most of the two-hour installments of "Columbo" tended to drag, in spots, but "A Self Portrait" moves at a brisk pace, benefiting from effective and inspired performances from guests Patrick Bauchau, Fionnula Flannagan, Shera Denese, George Coe, and Isabel Lorca. Falk's friend Vito Scotti makes one of his frequent appearances on the show, this time playing a bartender.

Written by Robert Sherman and directed by James Frawley, the film also sports a great Patrick Williams' score.

And even Columbo's pet "Dog" makes a brief, yet memorable, appearance.

One of the major highlights are the different "interpretations" of the dreams of the principals. Fascinating lighting, setting, and camera-work make this a "Columbo" to remember.

Enjoyable once again.

[punishmentpark · 7/10 · 14 September 2015]

A fun episode with fun and clever use of dream sequences that seem to refer to the old German-Expressionism film style; shadows versus light, close-ups, combined with psycho-analytic content. There were more films out around that time that did this, such as 'Kill me again', 'Knight moves', 'Dead again' and 'Final analysis', though most of these came out later than this.

The plot is okay, with an artist and 'his' three women, a psychologist who gets involved with one of the women (the one who gets killed, so his audio tapes of her become very important), Columbo who gets his portrait made and Columbo's dog 'Dog', who turns out to be one jealous Basset Hound. There was something about Patrick Bauchau's Max Barsini that didn't totally convince me, or maybe I was just jealous, too; a modern castle by the Pacific, three women (Isabel García Lorca...!) by his side and an incredible talent for painting (the latter being the only thing left to him in the end)... The actual paintings here were done by Jaroslav Gebr, by the way.

7 out of 10.

Weird even for Columbo episode!

[Sylviastel · 8/10 · 24 May 2006]

An artist with a wife and two female lovers. First, he's straight or too heterosexual if you ask me. Of course, Shera Danese who plays his wife is the real-life wife of COlumbo himself, Peter Falk. I like Fionnula Flanagan who has a supporting role. Yes, it's the same formula for Columbo. I am always amused by his embarrassment and his ignorance even in this episode. He always seems out of place and fascinated by the situation. Artists have been prime suspects before. He always has a wealthy, prominent, and celebrity prime suspects but he is always at the top of his game and he always catches his man or woman. I just love having him back but this is one of my personal favorites to watch again and again.

Columbo didn't produce one of his better cases here.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 10 September 2019]

By the time "Murder, a Self Portrait" was made, more than 20 years had passed since the first "Columbo" movie. This, combined with a relatively unexciting case make this a must-see for fans. Others might just wanna try one of the earlier installments.

When the episode begins, you see that the artist Max Barsini has a most unusual living arrangement. His marriage seems very open and strange. His ex-wife lives next door and is very actively involved with Max's second wife as well as his lover...and the four of them eat and spend their time together! At first, it appears as if they are one big happy, albeit strange, family. However, when the first wife wants to leave and start a new life, Max's narcissism and co-dependence kick in and he murders her....making it look like a simply drowning. However, Columbo is on the case....and there seems to be nothing like a simple death to him!

The guest actors in this one are okay....but not particularly memorable or exciting to watch. The same goes with the finale, which has little in the way of fireworks or excitement.

Delicious

[the_old_roman · 9/10 · 6 May 2002]

Patrick Bachau is wonderful as the tempermental artist who cannot accept the fact that his ex-wife has fallen in love with another man, a psychiatrist superbly played by George Coe. Falk's real-life wife, Shera Therese shines brilliantly as Bachau's current wife. And Vito Scotti and Isabella Garcia-Lorca are both superb in supporting roles. This is one of the 20 best Columbo movies ever made.

It paints a very average picture of Columbo

[The Welsh Raging Bull · 6/10 · 21 July 2006]

A bizarrely plotted "new" Columbo which pits him against a manipulative artist whose extravagant, womanising lifestyle allows him to live next door to his ex-wife and actually live with his second wife and the life model he uses for some of his paintings. When his control potentially loosens over his volatile ex-wife (who harbours a dark secret from his past) and is about to share her life with a a psychologist, he decides to perpetrate a murder on the beach that is made to look like a drowning...

This really is an odd Columbo from start to finish; the murderer's circumstances almost beggar belief to begin with, but the script at least sets the story up so that the viewer is keen to find out how Columbo will nail the murderer, whilst at the same time uncover his obscure motive for the murder.

Unfortunately, the story is patchily sustained and the build-up to the uncovering of the motive, facilitated by three dreams taped by the murder victim's widow in his professional capacity, are overly complicated and uninvolved: Columbo manages to decipher the meaning of the dreams in an unconvincingly simple manner, which merely underlines this wholly unsatisfactory aspect of the script.

There are other unappealing aspects to this story, no more so than the rather bland performance of Patrick Bachau as the artist, whose appearance fails to ignite any spark, especially, very disappointingly, in his scenes with Columbo. In fact, any lightweight arrogance and self-assuredness that may have been shown by the murderer is totally extinguished by an incriminating piece of evidence at the finale, which is very sloppy, despite Columbo's insistence that he would have caught him another way if he had not stumbled across it.

The main redeeming feature of this lack-lustre episode are the well-photographed scenes in and around the beach-house which really illustrate the tranquility of the location; the rest unfortunately is a unsatisfying mix of bizarreness and boredom.

When is a dream not a dream? When it's a Nightmare

[ygwerin1 · 8/10 · 20 December 2020]

This is an episode of Columbo that I even have on dvd the entire 9th Series, bought for me as a pressie.

So I can see at any time that I like though as its on the box, reasonably frequently I don't actually bother.

This Episode is a tale almost of Roman proportions why, because of the central character Max Barsini's inate propensities.

Max Barsini the artiste extraordinaire, enjoys living the life as of Emperor Nero.

Barsini relishes Lording it over his domain residing in an extended household, of current wife Vanessa.

Replete with live in model and lover Julie, even including his ex wife Louise resident only next door.

Emperor Barsini resides over his harem and like an Arab sheikh, loves being waited on by them hand and foot.

But at the same time Barsini enjoyed wailing about "my lot in life" like a proverbialy spoilt brat.

Barsini's family entourage hide Max's deepest darkest secrets, but will or can he ever be truly happy and satisfied in his castle.

"Murder, A Self Portrait" (1989)

[Wuchakk · 7/10 · 14 January 2019]

PLOT: A successful artist (Patrick Bauchau) enjoys life living luxuriously on the Malibu shore with no less than three women: his ex-wife (Fionnula Flanagan), his present wife (Shera Danese) and a young model (Isabel Lorca). The three women are all beautiful in their own way and age-bracket, a redhead, brunette and blonde respectively. The man obviously wants his cake and to eat it too! For hidden reasons, he murders one of them.

COMMENTARY: The only way a Columbo movie can work is if it convinces you of the reality of the locale, the people thereof and their unique situation; and this is why this segment works. Speaking of locale, the beachfront locations are spectacular. And Colombo's pet basset hound, "Dog," gets some quality screen time. There are also some awesome-looking dream sequences.

Columbo aficionados will remember Gretchen Corbett's stunning bikini sequence in "An Exercise in Fatality" (1974) and perhaps JoAnna Cameron's office scene in "Negative Reaction" (1974). This episode features a comparable sequence with bikini-clad Isabel Lorca (Julie) on the beach. For anyone interested, "Now You See Him" (1976) and "Columbo Cries Wolf" (1990) are the best episodes in this department.

FYI: Shera Danese was Peter Falk's lifelong wife, whom he married Dec. 7, 1977. She appeared in a total of six Columbo installments, including two in the initial series, one of which was a prominent role in "Murder Under Glass" (1978). She also has a prominent role in "A Trace of Murder" (1997) where she costars.

GRADE: B

The writer must've thought Columbo was a daytime soap opera instead of a detective show.

[Sheerluck_Ohms · 2/10 · 23 March 2022]

Soooo boring compared to older Columbo episodes. An uncharismatic, moderately attractive man who paints subpar paintings somehow has two wives and a mistress who all live with him and somehow is the most famous, most rich artist that even Columbo knows who he is. The vast majority of this episode is what I assume is the writer's wet dream of having three women constantly bicker over him. Fits the bill of daytime soaps. Barely any detective work occurs, everyone including Columbo take turns pleasuring the artist as if he's amazing. The episode was written so cheaply that there isn't even the usual group of police combing over everything as would be in real life. The police work done by Columbo is extremely convoluted. Terrible writing. I hate this episode.

Very Fun Episode for Me

[studiodirect · 17 July 2017]

The Columbo series is a true pleasure to savor… Peter Falk is perfect in his role as the seemingly befuddled on the surface detective with hidden brilliance. Hahaha… we know that is his sly fox ruse. This episode was a marvelous surprise for me! I have spent my life a successful artist in the fine art world and in my youth could relate, somewhat, to Mr. Barsini.; albeit without the murder. What made it extra fun for me personally was that Mr. Falk, as the artist, used to show his works in the same gallery with me in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The fact that the gallery dealer would sell an original, take fifty percent off the top and take twelve months to pay-out our share makes me wonder if Peter had a hand in writing this episode; with a plot where the artist's first murder was that of the unethical art dealer… lol. Anyway it was fun to see a bit of the world as I have known it… once again without the murderous aspect. Lookup Peter Falk's art if you haven't before… he was quite good. What a treasure he was… and still is.

It's amusing but at the same time also not among the best Columbo movies.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 6/10 · 17 September 2008]

This was a Columbo movie with some amusing moments in it such as its opening but overall this entry isn't quite appealing enough in any sense. It maintains a slow dragging pace and just does not have the most interesting characters, story and settings. It's not a movie that is bad or that I hated watching but it could had been all better when you compare it to most other Columbo movie.

All Columbo movies of course feature a murderer in it that committed often a cold blooded and cleverly thought out murder. Despite their act you always sort of start to like and bond with him or her, just like Lt. Columbo always attempts to do. Often Columbo movies that are bad, are bad because of the fact that they don't feature a murderer in it that you'll find sympathetic and likable enough. This is also the case with this Columbo movie.

So yes although Patrick Bauchau can act he still feels miscast in this movie, since he doesn't play a real likable character. Or perhaps this is more due to the movie its writing, which also doesn't feature the most compelling story about an artist, who is married to two woman and has a girlfriend, all living at the same mansion. Most of the supporting actors, such as Isabel García Lorca and Shera Danese aren't among the greatest however. Shera Danese actually starred in 6 Columbo movies throughout her career. No big surprise, since she is married to Peter Falk.

Luckily the movie still knows how to amuses, which is the foremost reason why the movie is still such a fine watchable one. The movie again puts the Lt. Columbo in some awkward and amusing positions, which provide the movie with some nice relieving humor.

It's a stylish Columbo movie that also tries out some new tricks but this doesn't completely work out however. Later Columbo movies often tried out new things but they always went back to the series its usual and successful formula, the series became so well known for.

The story tries to be clever at parts but instead its rather stretching things. This movie just doesn't have the most likely story. Columbo movies of course never exactly been known for its realistic stories but this movie is just overdoing things at times. The left out evidence all could had been discovered earlier by Columbo, especially with the help of some of the forensic evidence. It gives the entire movie and investigation by Columbo all seem a bit pointless in the end.

Nothing too horrible but just not among the best Columbo movies out there.

6/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

I Was Intrigued

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 22 April 2024]

Once again, an initial reaction to a seemingly insignificant clue leads to Columbo moving ahead. Once he latches on to the case of the missing contact lens, all bets are off. If you go to the end of a good mystery novel and you know who did it, you can go back and see all the pregnant moments and significant clues that could have been overlooked. But knowing who the murderer was ahead of time allows you to pick and choose the best ones. This is a fun case because the artist is incredibly arrogant. He has an ex-wife, the murder victim, a newer wife, and a vibrant young model, all hanging out. They are expected to cook for him, wash his clothes, and service him. They are not to question him at any point. They are almost as guilty as he because they have a good thing going. The problem is that the first wife has begun to look at the rest of her life and decides to get out. But it's not so easy, and she gets murdered for it. There is also a deep secret. Her psychologist has tapes that she made of her dreams. If there is one thing that stretches things a bit, it would be the detectives interpretation of these dreams. He might as well have been Freud or Jung because he goes way beyond the realm of a layman. The business with the portrait is very odd but it gives Columbo a chance to be near the murderer and to see his idiosyncracies and his methods in his art. Of course, I would imagine that every red blooded, self centered male, envied this guy.

Okay, for late Colombo

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 27 May 2004]

Barsini (Bauchau), the renowned painter, is more or less cohabiting with three women. One of them, his ex-wife, is about to leave him for her former shrink. Bauchau is afraid she will reveal, unwittingly or otherwise, a crime that he committed some years ago. Bauchau arranges for an alibi and then sneaks up on his ex-wife who is lying on a lonely part of the beach at Malibu, knocks her out, and drowns her. Colombo is called in and unravels the plot.

It's an okay entry in the later series, although not up to the best of the first series. Bauchau is an engaging European with an Italian name and a French accent. He reminds me of a menu in one of those pretentious restaurants that offer "Continental Food." (What IS continental food, anyway? Does the menu offer dishes from Andorra to Zagreb?) I can believe he's got three women hanging around. I can't say if he's handsome but he's tall and rich and famous and so polite that he oozes an oleaginous charm. Women always fall for phonies like this. Real men, like me, who are honestly impolite and no better looking than any human being deserves to be, suffer at their expense. How come his first name is "Patrick" anyway? Shouldn't it be Patrique? Or Patricchio? Fionnula Flanagan as his victim turns in a craftsmanlike job. She's a good actress. She was a very tempting Nausicaa in Joseph Strick's "Ulysses," a winsome young girl sitting on a rock and showing her legs. Here she shows some of her bosom. (Wow.)

I'm always amused by the versions of "poverty" that show up in movies set in Los Angeles. This film gives us a comfortable artist's loft over a friendly and atmospheric Italian restaurant as an example. Actually a person could flourish there. Evidently none of the art directors have seen East St. Louis. Let them spend a night or two in the Aberdeen Hotel. Now THAT'S poverty.

Three small points that make this episode a bit different from the others. One is that the writers and the director have tried to introduce a little novelty into the usual scenario by the use of a dramatic technique that I think is called stichomythia -- short, sharp, exchanges of snippets of dialogue that don't quite overlap. The movie "Sleuth" is full of them and one scene in Richard III is packed. One takes place while Bauchau and Colombo are free associating to the idea of a French uncle -- "Dutch uncle?" "Monkey's uncle!" It's used again during a stroll on the beach.

A second thing is that Colombo is forced by circumstances into disassembling three dreams in a psychoanalytic way, and he succeeds. That business about the "French uncle" is from one of the victim's dreams and is finally reinterpreted as "mon Oncle" (French) and finally "monacle," which gives Colombo a significant clue. The third thing is that the original secret that Flanagan is carrying, and for the memory of which she is killed, is hidden from the audience until the climax. Usually all the circumstances are revealed at the beginning and the only secret is exactly how Colombo is going to uncover them.

That's about it. It's relatively entertaining, but I don't like that Bauchau character much. Not only was it rude of him to murder someone as appealing as Fionnula Flanagan but he simply does not deserve three women at once.

Unusual for several reasons

[lucyrfisher · 9/10 · 29 April 2024]

Oh, so we have to have some "comedy". I fast forward whenever Dog appears. But apart from him...

As others have said, the music is great. Opera is the soundtrack to Vito's Bar, where the artist and his first wife used to live. But what opera are they singing in Louise's nightmares? I'd love to hear the whole work! The nightmare scenes are very well done, with the artist and Columbo in monochrome in the background.

The psychologist is dignified, and tho Freud's theories are largely baloney, good use is made of them. A French uncle? Mon oncle? A Mon... ocle? Earlier there's been some chat about a monocled art dealer who disappeared - "went back to Europe".

He was "very English" apparently, wore a bowler and often called people "old chap". What a shame! No Englishman had behaved like that since about 1910.

The three bickering women are good, especially when the remaining two make it up in the sauna over a bottle of white. Bauchau is good as the utterly horrible Barsini, redeemed only by his skill. His paintings are by an art director, and his portrait of Columbo is genius!

Burn on Picasso with a weak alibi

[muratmihcioglu · 7/10 · 10 November 2023]

That's an interesting episode for a few reasons:

• The killer and the women around him are colorful characters with.personal differences

• Peter Falk's wife Shera Danese is in the cast once again, making the experience a bit more interesting for us Columbo buffs

• The painter seems to be loosely inspired by Picasso, Gaugin and certain other famous artists who had had rough patches with the women in their lives

• Also on a visual level, the setting is colorful, bright and inviting, adding freshness to the classical taste

• As the story involves also a cold case, Columbo solves not one but two murders by use of a Lynch-esque setting, which, via black-and-white dives into psychotherapic sessions, also borrows from Hitchcock's Spellbound

• The youngest lover of the painter is really hot. I'm both sad and surprised she hasn't done much film work later

• We see a portrait of Columbo being.painted, which again, adds value to the episode for extra points of trivia.

However, the murder plot always matters. And I don't get how such a weak alibi could help anyone. Leave out the fact that what the killer pulls is visibly and technically possible with an exit route any detective can observe - How could he know he wouldn't be seen while committing the murder? How could he ensure someone else wouldn't catch him exit the bar from the rear window? And also, how could he rely solely on the bartender? What if he died of a heart attack shortly after he committed his crime? What was gonna be left?

If one is trying to fabricate a false alibi, that should be a smarter one involving more people.

Much sex, little Columbo !

[elshikh4 · 6/10 · 4 October 2020]

It has a lot of virtues: The atmosphere is fresh. The black and white dreams aren't a bad idea, on the contrary; it's a new element for the show, and a creative way to solve the case. And the dialogue is marvelously meaty it fitted a Russian play. Add to that, an elegant cinematography, nice music score, clever directing, and mostly fine performance. So based on the above, this is a strong movie, with high hopes to the viewer. Hmmm, I think not. Why?! Here's my reasons:

Firstly, the sex factor was overabundant. It's the cheap and disgraceful method of the post-1970s Columbo movies, where Peter Falk was an executive producer. However, this time, it reached to a semi-nude shot; which was the most impudent shot I have ever seen in an American TV material at the moment! Well, Columbo wasn't used to be exploitative, but in this phase of the show it had to, for the sake of making money yet by the lowest ways. And there is a hint to Baywatch (1989), which began 2 months earlier by the way, indicating another age of TV; where entertainment would be united with nudity, and art would be plagued by degradation!

Speaking of which, for whoever asked about the unheard line, which the painter's wife whispered in his ear before leaving him: It's clear that she wanted to enrage him, by telling him that she has a sexual relationship with his girlfriend. And it's clear that it wasn't appropriate thing to say loudly in a 1989 TV movie. And it's clear that it was dirty as a joke, or stupid as a dramatic development, which was put there to make Columbo edgy anyhow, where anything risqué goes!

Secondly, our dear Columbo wasn't there quantitatively and qualitatively. On one hand, the relationships of the painter and his women ate up the whole time. And on the other, Falk's approach of the character had gone completely comedic in an annoying manner. Why he went to belittle the character deliberately like that? For selling the show?? Oh God, the character was more attractive as a serious guy who has his accidental comedic moments. More attractive, and more respectable too!

Anyway, this is the most Columbo movie where I felt the absence of the great Lieutenant and his lovable antics. I saw him only when he was confused while meeting the painter's women for the first time, thinking that the man has endless wives. However, for the movie's rest, Columbo that you know and love isn't here. The one in hand is someone with the same name and aspect, but not that scarily smart anymore, or even close. And he's played by some Peter Falk's look-alike, who's deprived of talent and charisma. You can delete that guy altogether, and replace him with any crime solver from the American TV back then; like J.J. Starbuck, The Commish, or B.L. Stryker, knowing that none of them won the massive success, or the long years, of Columbo. It's where Columbo, as a character and performance, became lesser than itself; and what a painful irony that this movie causes!

Thirdly, the script got couple of foolish points. For instance, how the painter's sadness over his dead ex-wife vanished in the same day of her death, to the extent of talking Columbo into drawing him because of his interesting face. That was too exaggerated, hence unbelievable. It's like her killer declares from the start: "I'm happy because she died", establishing himself as a perfect suspect. And for another, the way that killer surrendered so easily in the end was mega-provocative. And according to the movie's IMDb reviews, I'm not alone on hating this!

(Murder, a Self Portrait) has its share of virtues, and vices as well. True the vices were lesser, but they were also graver. Enough to say that there was no Columbo, no Peter Falk, with much sex and less convincing ending. So, eventually, the strong movie got weaker, and the high hopes shrunk to average, if not trite, stuff.

The Arc/Art

[maryjoschrd · 6/10 · 22 January 2023]

Best part about this piece are the paintings and Especially the culminating glorious music. Who are the singers? What bountiful music! I'll give it to Alexa. Peter Falk doesn't miss, as usual. Great costuming. Sorry. Hanging participles here. Seems like the reviewers really enjoy dwelling on the basset. The Story writers and editors could use refreshing courses. Though I've viewed this episode twice previously, I still find the story confusing and lackluster throughout. The mountains became proverbial molehills. Did the director become so exhausted with attention to art and canine that she,he lost her exhuberance for the almighty tale? Can I subside now?

An adequate story, if not particularly memorable

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 3 February 2016]

MURDER, A SELF PORTRAIT is another early example of the Columbo TV series made just after it had been revamped for a new era. Falk is a little more dishevelled here, a little more lined and crumpled, but he still has the old magic, which is why I guess that they kept making these for another fourteen years or so.

The first - and best - thing about this story is that Columbo's dog plays a big part. In fact, he even gets to go to a show in the opening sequence, which is a lot of fun, and a lot of laughs stem from the set-up. The episode needs them, because elsewhere it's a fairly typical example of Columbo. It's watchable enough but it lacks the kind of riveting elements to make a classic example of the series.

Like the previous story GRAND DECEPTIONS, this one lacks a decent guest villain. Patrick Bauchau isn't bad as the sinister French painter, but he lacks gravitas and the moments he shares with the gumshoe just aren't particularly electrifying. The female talent is better, with Fionnula Flanagan making an impression as the ex-wife and Shera Danese (Falk's real-life wife) propping things up once more. However, I didn't care for the dream sequences, which felt out of place when you look at the show overall, and the mystery and clues are rather limited.

Good Cast, Good Plot, Good Time!

[BSandor · 4 December 2000]

I am a Columbo-fan, and this episode is really one of the best. Max Barsini (played by Patrick Bauchau (Dr. Sydney Green in the drama series "The Pretender" (1996-2000)) has a secret and his wife knows what it is. Max murders her, "pretending" it was an accident. Max also has an alibi: he was painting at Vito's. The case is clear, but then comes a police officer to solve the case: Lt. Columbo.

I was really enjoying this movie. A cast is excellent, many of my favourites (Peter Falk, Shera Danese, Patrick Bauchau to name a few) were here and did a wonderful job. Now I could see behind the scenes of painting artists...

For all Columbo-fan, this movie is a must see!

Hello, misogyny, it's me.....

[bthomas10003 · 1/10 · 11 November 2020]

Wow, this was one of the most distasteful episodes ever! If I were an artist I would be appalled! This episode turns to the lowest, condescending, sexist stereotypes ever! I can't believe this episode was ever approved. As for the character Barsisni barking orders for the women in his life to and cook, clean his clothes, and to be at this beck and call, is ridiculous even for 1989. I think this speaks to the culture of the time in regards how women were treated even in Hollywood.