Biopic of American artist Georgia O'Keeffe and her husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz.Biopic of American artist Georgia O'Keeffe and her husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz.Biopic of American artist Georgia O'Keeffe and her husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz.
- Nominated for 9 Primetime Emmys
- 1 win & 28 nominations total
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
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Featured reviews
Needs a Big-Screen Release
This movie requires a big-screen release. Any movie about a painter that does not need a big-screen is a basic failure, and this movie is no failure on any level.
First, we need to consider the lead actors. I have been enamored of Joan Allen's chops since I saw her in THE HEIDI CHRONICLES on stage. She has only gotten better. Jeremy Irons is, of course, a great actor. He has a great ability to portray real people from REVERSAL OF FORTUNE to here. Here he makes Alfred Steiglitz. as written by screenwriter Michael Cristofer vain, pompous, needy, funny, visionary and very, very real.
But the real brilliance here is the cinematography by Paul Elliott who capture's O'Keefe's lights and images in a startling way, from O'Keefe's actual paintings to Joan Allen's hands.
The only failure is its non-release on a big screen. Well, perhaps someday....
First, we need to consider the lead actors. I have been enamored of Joan Allen's chops since I saw her in THE HEIDI CHRONICLES on stage. She has only gotten better. Jeremy Irons is, of course, a great actor. He has a great ability to portray real people from REVERSAL OF FORTUNE to here. Here he makes Alfred Steiglitz. as written by screenwriter Michael Cristofer vain, pompous, needy, funny, visionary and very, very real.
But the real brilliance here is the cinematography by Paul Elliott who capture's O'Keefe's lights and images in a startling way, from O'Keefe's actual paintings to Joan Allen's hands.
The only failure is its non-release on a big screen. Well, perhaps someday....
A touch disappointing
Don't get me wrong, Allen and Irons are quite good in the film. (Irons seems to be channeling Daniel Plainview) Im just a little disappointed...
I personally would have liked to see her actually painting a bit more...or at least some insight to her thought process. The plot is really about her seemingly symbiotic relationship with Alfred Stiglitz.
There also seems to be a lot of gray areas in her later life that the film just sums up in a monologue, but Its a made for T.V movie...I guess we cant have everything. Something tells me it should (was it meant to be?) have been made into a feature. Its not bad, just could have been better.
I personally would have liked to see her actually painting a bit more...or at least some insight to her thought process. The plot is really about her seemingly symbiotic relationship with Alfred Stiglitz.
There also seems to be a lot of gray areas in her later life that the film just sums up in a monologue, but Its a made for T.V movie...I guess we cant have everything. Something tells me it should (was it meant to be?) have been made into a feature. Its not bad, just could have been better.
Finally, the rest of the story, Page 2
I have followed Stieglitz for 40 years via catalogs, books, videos, and exhibitions. I branched out to adore O'Keefe for her work, and, increasingly for her individuality and spunk.
This portrayal of the woman fills a much needed gap in her biography and that of Alfred. The harmonies played by the character weave a phenomenal presentation of these lives.
For anyone who has read biographies, autobiographies, or other papers on these two lives will easily fill the gaps in this abbreviated portrayal. If I get the chance this program will become a part of my own collection of these artists lives - It's a keeper.
This portrayal of the woman fills a much needed gap in her biography and that of Alfred. The harmonies played by the character weave a phenomenal presentation of these lives.
For anyone who has read biographies, autobiographies, or other papers on these two lives will easily fill the gaps in this abbreviated portrayal. If I get the chance this program will become a part of my own collection of these artists lives - It's a keeper.
Too Many Problems For This Film
I like the basic story; however, I really was disappointed in the director, the DP, and the Gaffer (the person who lights the scenes). The story clearly demonstrated the tumultuous relationship she had with her husband, and control freak, Alfred Steiglitz. That dynamic is very important in explaining who O'Keeffe was. However, I did not like the technical achievements for the NYC shooting (although I hear the whole film was shot in Santa Fe). First of all they used key lights that were too strong and must have had a Kelvin temperature over 7000K--made everybody look (skin tones) extremely cold and blue for all those scenes. This looked weird for something happening in the 1920's-30's. The lighting should have been very warm to match the approximate 2500K light bulbs that existed then. If you want to see a good scene setup, look at Clint Eastwood's "Changeling". Every scene in Changeling was beautiful, and I really felt I was in that time frame. When she went to Taos, NM, the lighting and color pallet looked great. Next I felt that the director tried to accelerate her story, AND I feel the director really messed up after he finally ended the story when she permanently settled in NM and only used "end statements" that stated she's considered 'one of the greatest female painters'. Well YES!!...her greatest work began after the story ended and we see nothing of her fantastic emergence or artistic accomplishments which also included connecting with Ansel Adams(and her former husband was a photographer!!). Her work continued on to 1986 when she finally died, and we see none of this. It was like the point of this film was to only show the tumultuous ordeal with her husband and her eventual breaking away from that poisonous marriage. That was not the title of this film.
You were put on this earth to paint, not to breed.
This was essentially a two-person film. Sure, there were other characters that came in and out: Mabel Dodge Stern (Tyne Daly), Dorothy Norman (Jenny Gabrielle), Tony Lujan (Robert Mirabal), and Selma Steiglitz (Christina Koerber), to name four, but it was the passionate, sometimes stormy relationship between the painter, Georgia O'Keeffe (Joan Allen), and internationally known photographer and gallerist (and philanderer), Alfred Steiglitz (Jeremy Irons), that was displayed here. The New Mexican landscape can also be considered a character, as it enveloped her years after their split.
One of the things that may have helped make this more interesting would be some of the back-story in things that happened. Why didn't Steiglitz want children? There was a good reason. His philandering was also down played. The showing on Lifetime may have served to keep this from being all it could be.
There was some great lines throughout the film. When Stieglitz tells O'Keeffe not to return to her teaching job at West Texas State Normal College, he sniffs: "There's nothing normal in Texas." There are many more great lines, and that makes the film entertaining.
Seeing their relationship develop and falter, and watching how he managed to promote her into one of the greatest American painters was reason enough to tune in. When she overtook him in fame, and we saw Allen's passionate portrayal, it was beautiful.
One of the things that may have helped make this more interesting would be some of the back-story in things that happened. Why didn't Steiglitz want children? There was a good reason. His philandering was also down played. The showing on Lifetime may have served to keep this from being all it could be.
There was some great lines throughout the film. When Stieglitz tells O'Keeffe not to return to her teaching job at West Texas State Normal College, he sniffs: "There's nothing normal in Texas." There are many more great lines, and that makes the film entertaining.
Seeing their relationship develop and falter, and watching how he managed to promote her into one of the greatest American painters was reason enough to tune in. When she overtook him in fame, and we saw Allen's passionate portrayal, it was beautiful.
Did you know
- TriviaThe real inspiration behind this film was the result of producers Joshua D. Maurer and Alixandre Witlin's first visit to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico in March, 2006 when they took their eldest daughter Sofia (then almost two years old) to see the collection. Maurer and WiltIn were visiting Sofia's grandparents in Santa Fe and it was her grandmother who made the suggestion that her first museum should be that of famed artists Georgia O'Keeffe. Sofia was so enthralled by the images and so captivated by what she saw, that it gave Maurer and Witlin the idea that to try to portray O'Keeffe's life as a film. As they were leaving the museum, Maurer pitched the idea to Witlin, who is also his producing partner and she agreed but felt the casting of Georgia had to be perfect otherwise it would not work. She asked Josh who he felt would be the ideal casting and Maurer immediately said - "Joan Allen" - and Alix agreed it was a perfect choice. Next Witlin asked him who would buy for development such a film and Maurer immediately responded back - HBO. Witlin agreed. As the Maurer, Witlin and Sofia were leaving the museum, right outside the front door... Maurer immediately called Joan Allen and pitched her the story as Josh and Joan had previously worked closely together on another film project for HBO that unfortunately did not go forward and were looking for another vehicle to collaborate. Joan listened carefully and reported back she loved the idea. Josh told her to hold a beat. He then immediately called Kerri Putnam at HBO and pitched her the idea with Joan attached to star and produce and HBO said yes on the spot. They informed Maurer that this story had been previously pitched over two dozen times but it never felt right to them both in terms of the creative approach by the producers and the casting - but this time it felt perfect. Maurer and Witlin, holding Sofia in their arms, then called Joan back and told her the positive news. Thus began an intensive and passionate development process with HBO and writer Michael Cristofer that resulted in a brilliant screenplay. Maurer, Witlin and Allen visited Santa Fe a few times to do extensive research and took Sofia with them. HBO then had had the project greenlit but when HBO president Colin Callender left the company the project was unfortunately put in turnaround. Disappointed but not defeated, 45 minutes later, Maurer reached out directly to Lifetime Television and sold the project to them in turnaround and then brought on Sony Pictures Television as their deficit financing partner. When the film was officially screened in Santa Fe... Joan Allen spoke and asked Sofia (now aged 4) to stand up and take a bow and the entire audience gave her a standing ovation.
- GoofsPart of this movie was filmed at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. When Georgia walks out of the house in the morning she is barefoot. This would never happen in real life due to scorpions, fire ants, Cholla cactus thorns, tumbleweed thorns, and a plant called goat's-head weed. This plant has woody thorns that give the plant its nickname of puncturevine.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards (2010)
Details
- Runtime
- 1h 29m(89 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
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