Homage to Chagall: The Colours of Love (1977)
3.7 of 5 from 45 ratings
1h 28min
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- Synopsis:
In 'Homage to Chagall', which The New York Times proclaimed 'an affectionate and visually beautiful celebration of both the man and his art', acclaimed Canadian documentary filmmaker Harry Rasky (Song of Leonard Cohen) coaxes artist Marc Chagall's formidable life and transcendent work onto film. This Academy Award-nominated documentary is a symphonic blending of narration by James Mason (Pandora and the Flying Dutchman), first-person recitations from Chagall's letters and poems read by Joseph Wiseman (Dr. No, Detective Story), and rare interviews with the charismatic Chagall himself as he neared his 90th birthday. Without arrogance or regret, Chagall recalls his journey from childhood in Vitebsk, Russia, to a post as Commissar in the newly formed Soviet Union, to a new life in Paris and beyond. As Chagall describes the path that has led him to the enlightened conviction that 'everything can and will be transformed in life and art, if we speak the word 'love' without shame'; we see his painting transform from the somber browns and reds of his early years to the exultative detonation of color and image that characterizes his Paris work. 'You become the events of the world'; Chagall remarks from his garden in Saint-Paul-de-Vence with an easy, modest candor. In what Judith Crist of Saturday Review called 'a magical blend of sight and sound that transcends the screen', Rasky drinks in the lush colors and mystic images of Chagall's paintings, tapestries, murals, mosaics, and stained glass windows from the Paris Opera to the Jerusalem Museum. Homage to Chagall is a documentary film of a magnitude (it features over 100 of the artist's paintings) that rivals the work of its subject. Rather than trapping Chagall's achievements in an amber of dry historical context and typical documentary didacticism, Rasky's casual mastery of filmmaking irresistibly humanizes and personalizes the art of Marc Chagall while only increasing its lingering, transcendent beauty. - Directors:
- Harry Rasky
- Narrated By:
- Jean Gascon, James Mason, Joseph Wiseman
- Writers:
- Harry Rasky
- Genres:
- Documentary, Special Interest
- Countries:
- Canada
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