Vincent & Theo
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Vincent & Theo

Vincent & Theo is a 1990 biographical drama film about the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) and his brother Theo (1857–1891), an art dealer. While Vincent van Gogh's artworks are now famous, he was essentially unrecognized in his lifetime, and survived on his brother's charity. The film was directed by Robert Altman, and starred Tim Roth and Paul Rhys in the title roles.

The film was made as a four-hour mini-series (200-minute length) for television, and an 138-minute version was released to theatres.

Vincent & Theo has a prelude, which is documentary footage of the 1987 auction of one of Vincent van Gogh's paintings at Christie's, a famed London art business. The painting sells for millions of pounds. The film then cuts to scenes that take place in the period from 1883 through 1891, commencing with Vincent van Gogh's decision to work exclusively as an artist, and concluding with his death and that of his brother Theo a few months later. The film is a double portrait of both men; Noel Murray has summarised this aspect, "Altman and screenwriter Julian Mitchell contrast Theo's life—which mostly consists of him guiding rich people through galleries and selling them paintings he despises—with Vincent's gradual development of his own voice and style, through hard physical labor. Vincent & Theo also shows both men as warped by a similar madness, torn between their lusts for sex and alcohol, and their yearnings for social respectability and religious connection."

The film portrays several of the better-known episodes of this period of the brothers' lives, including Vincent van Gogh's move from his brother's apartment in Paris to Provence, Theo van Gogh's establishment of an art gallery in Paris and his marriage to Jo Bonger, Vincent van Gogh's relationship with the painter Paul Gauguin in Provence, his mutilation of his earlobe, the birth of their son Vincent Willem to Johanna and Theo van Gogh, Vincent van Gogh's care by the physician Paul Gachet, and his ultimate suicide.

While the roles of the van Gogh brothers were played by British actors Tim Roth and Paul Rhys, the remaining Dutch and French roles were generally played by Dutch and French actors.

Julian Mitchell was the screenwriter for Vincent & Theo; he was known at the time for his play Another Country (1981) and its film adaptation (1984). Vincent van Gogh's life has been portrayed many times. Mitchell's screenplay is unusual in its concentration upon the relationship of Vincent and Theo van Gogh. Gary Giddins notes that "most of the film (and this is strictly true for the first hour) alternates episodes from Vincent's life with those from Theo's. ... there isn't much serenity in either of their lives, and perhaps the most disturbing element of Vincent & Theo is the reluctance to extend any hope to them. ... Vincent & Theo is less concerned with stockpiling facts than canvassing an accumulation of insights through the crafting of a time, place, and mood that allows the van Goghs to leap out of history in all their ungainly glory."

The production design for Vincent & Theo was done by Stephen Altman, the director's son. Noel Murray wrote in 2015, "Altman's production-designer son Stephen—the unsung hero of his later films—could almost be credited as the co-author of Vincent & Theo for how well he recreates late-19th-century Europe in both its tactile grime and its old world quaintness. The Altmans bring Van Gogh's subjects back to life."

The composer Gabriel Yared had previously worked with Altman on the film Beyond Therapy (1987). For that film as well as for Vincent & Theo, Yared composed "away from the film", with only a screenplay and general guidance from Altman. He himself considered the score to be "maybe the most creative music he had done". Several critics have remarked favourably on his "compulsive", "vexing" score that "finely underscores the underlying testy dynamics of living only for art." Yared's 1996 score for The English Patient won an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award.

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