As a young man, Brian Sewell met the artist Salvador Dalí and was invited to his house. That evening, after an awkward period of time with hosts and guest sitting in remote eggs, Sewell found himself lying in the armpit of a sculpture of Christ, masturbating while Dalí watched. This started a friendship of shorts that lasted several years and, from this personal perspective he recalls his memories of Dalí from the time but also his thoughts as he watched Dalí in his later years.
Having just been to see the recent Dalí exhibition at the Tate in London I was curious to see this film for more of an insight into the artist and his work. In this way I found the film both interesting but also a little weaker than I would have liked. The background into Dalí's sexual life and obsessions is of value and also the discussion of his later life were interesting as we generally focus on the high points of someone's career once they are gone. All of this content is interesting and I had no real problem with this, but I did have a problem with the delivery of the film.
For the most part Sewell is a voice, unseen behind lots of footage lifted from other places and photographs that are animated together in a way that (sorry) doesn't really work within the context of the rest of the tone and style. This was a weakness and a bit of a problem but for me personally the issue was more Sewell. He opens the film saying he was in Spain looking for somewhere unpretentious to be and I'm sure I am not the only person to believe that this was the last time that Sewell ever sought out anything lacking pretence. There is no doubting his intelligence but his delivery is so heavy and pretentious at times that it does feel like he is trying to make his intellect the focus of the film rather than letting his reflections drive the film on Dalí.
Despite this though, the film is still engaging if you have more than a passing interest in the artist (of course without this it will be of no interest to you!). it is just a shame then that the delivery is so mixed with so-so animation used and Sewell's rather pretentious narration throughout.
