GAUGUIN (Directed by Edouard Delduc) **

When the impoverished painter lands in Tahiti, his misery continues. He can’t sell his paintings; he lives in a rain-drenched hut of sorts; has a heart attack and finds betrayal and disappointment at every turn. Only his wife brings him pleasure; she is his escape from woes, and his muse. Sounds like good movie material, right? Unfortunately, the film is boring; most parts show him obsessively painting her in all kind of poses or suffering from cold - with respites of fun playing with the children (a scene that went on far too long). Still, it would seem that the stifled feeling plaguing him in Paris was relieved somewhat in his new life. But in the end, nothing really could cheer up this man. Vincent Cassel played the painter’s depression and elation with equal élan and plausible passion. Gauguin was meant to live in nature. Simplicity and a beautiful young woman were his bedfellows.  The film was silly at times and presented itself like a collage piecing together parts of Gauguin’s genius and temperament while in Tahiti. The biopic pales in hue compared to the vivid colours in his paintings.