The Mystery of Picasso (1956)

To me, this movie is perfection.

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

This film is as visually pleasing as it is intellectually stimulating. Much as time-lapse photography reveals in seconds the weeks-long emergence, growth and blooming of a sprout into a flower, "The Mystery of Picasso" reveals the growth and evolution of several paintings. Each stage of each creation is a painting unto itself. To watch this film is quite literally to browse a metaphorical gallery of progressively different compositions. Quite often, the viewer may feel that Picasso has gone too far; that he should have rested his paint brush and walked away earlier than he did. Of course that comprises the intellectual weight of the film. When is an artist done? It is a question that writers, poets, painters, even film makers ponder. Imagine reading alternative, unpublished chapters of Gabriel Garcia Marquez; or imagine watching several varying, unedited director's cuts of a Luis Bunuel film. Henri-Georges Clouzot leaves his audience with an incredible appreciation for the dynamic, living, breathing process that goes into each Picasso canvas. Clouzot adds drama toward the end by informing Picasso that his film is running out. Is it really? The maestro doesn't seem to be rushed. Either that or he performs remarkably well under pressure.

A fascinating look at the creative process, filmed in a unique fashion, using a clever technique to capture Picasso's work as he is painting without his hand or his brush getting in the way. This method is actually shown and explained during a live action sequence in the middle. Although the film is mostly just a set of different Picasso paintings in action, interactions between the film's director and Picasso are added in, which not only decreases tedium from the at times monotonous paintwork, but it also makes it a whole lot more interesting, as it feels as if we are there with Clouzot and Picasso in a film studio. The material still becomes a tad repetitive and it tires before the film is over, but set to some great music and actually showing Picasso working through his creative process, this is remarkable, one-of-a-kind film-making and definitely worth checking out.

I received a VHS copy of this film from a friend who was going to trash it. My mother weaned me on trips to art galleries, spoon fed me stories of the personal lives of classic and modern masters, I worked in an art gallery liaisoning with the artists we represented and studied the psychology of creativity in college. This film had me riveted! I felt as though I was invited to eavesdrop, peek in on a great master at work. Every brush stroke was fascinating. I enjoyed the trip Picasso took me on as he started out painting one image and changed it into something else along the way. I enjoyed watching what appeared to be random brush strokes turn into a completed thought. This film helped me feel what it must be like to know when to stop... to know when you have finished a work... when you may have overworked it, when you may not have quite completed. It made me want to paint, not for others but for the simple pleasure one gets from the act of putting pigment on paper. It allowed me to feel free to create without fear of criticism. A must see for all artist and art lovers.

This is my favorite art film. The premise is simple: treat film as though it were a canvas and witness the process of creating a work -- brushstroke by brushstroke. The part where Picasso is laying down a beach scene -- layer by layer -- where the characters and background are continuously reworked is mesmerizing!