This is the story of a famous painter and of a young girl, Francoise, an aspiring painter. Their affair, which lasts 10 years, begins in 1943 during the German occupation of Paris. The painter is Picasso; he is in his 60s, and as wild and passionate as a youth. His path is littered with former mistresses and, while swearing eternal love to Francoise, he pays regular visits to the sensual, phlegmatic Marie-Therese and the daughter he has had with her. He is also still involved with the brilliant Dora, another painter, whose feelings for him have brought her to a nervous breakdown. Then there is his Russian wife, Olga, a former dancer, whom he has driven to the point of actual madness. She, too, has remained a presence in his life, along with their now-adult son, Paulo.
Francoise has to accept all these women and their offspring as part of her relationship with Picasso. Moreover, she has to accept his unpredictable moods, his outrageous sense of humor, his stinginess with money, his childish tyrannies, and his delight in making others submit to all his whims -- Francoise herself, his dealers, his patrons, his downtrodden personal staff.
But life with Picasso is exciting. He introduces her to great art and to great artists like Matisse. As a lover and companion, he is always amusing and sometimes tender. Above all, he is a genius whose utter devotion to his art nurtures and inspires her own work.
They have two children together and divide their time between Paris and the South of France. But they are plagued by the constant presence of his other women and by his own impossible temperament. It is not in his nature to be satisfied with only one love, and his increasing restlessness corrodes his relationship with Francoise.
She does her best to save it, for herself and their children, but when he begins yet another new affair, she realizes that, to save herself, she must leave him.
The idea of any woman leaving instead of waiting to be abandoned by him is such a challenge to Picasso that he tries to woo her all over again. It is too late...Francoise is strong enough to resist him -- and so becomes the only one of his women to survive her life with him intact.
Academy Award-winner ANTHONY HOPKINS stars as Pablo Picasso for the distinguished filmmakers JAMES IVORY, ISMAIL MERCHANT, DAVID WOLPER and RUTH PRAWER JHABVALA in the story of a great creative genius and the young girl whose fate it was to fall in love with him.
In 1943 Pablo Picasso was in his middle 60s, universally acknowleged as a titan of 20th-century art. A painter who led the world into a sophisticated and radical new way of perceiving reality, Picasso lived as robustly and passionately as he painted and sculpted.
Francoise, an art student, (NATASCHA McELHONE) was 23 in that same year, beautiful, self-possessed, living in Paris. The night Picasso introduced himself and invited her to visit his studio seemed to Francoise to be the beginning of an exciting life offering her many possibilities for creative self-fulfillment.
The romance that grew out of that chance encounter brought more passion, enlightenment and tenderness to her life than Francoise could have forseen -- but it also brought anguish and frustration. For a decade, Francoise struggled to survive as an individual in a relationship with the most demanding, domineering, mercurial and unfaithful man she was ever to meet -- and, despite her realization that she must leave him to survive, she never stopped loving him.
"Surviving Picasso" is a story about a unique and remarkable romantic attachment told through the eyes of Picasso's mistress, the mother of two of his children, and the only woman in his life who finally found the strength to leave him.
Through Francoise's experiences, Picasso is shown in all his creative, charismatic appeal -- but the toll he extracted from those who loved him is vividly depicted as well. And in the end, one comes to understand the enduring affection and respect that Francoise held for her lover, teacher and companion, even as she made the decision to leave him forever and raise their children alone.
Picasso was famous for his liaisons with women throughout his life. Among those who surrounded him during the ten years Picasso and Francoise spent together were Picasso's mad wife Olga (JANE LAPOTAIRE), who raised his son, Paulo (DOMINIC WEST); Marie ThÈrËse Walter (SUSANNAH HARKER), his mistress and the mother of his daughter Maya; Dora Maar (JULIANNE MOORE), described as "Picasso's consort" until she was replaced by Francoise; and the woman who was to become Picasso's second wife, Jacqueline Roque (DIANE VENORA).
PETER EYRE plays Picasso's personal assistant and confidant, Sabartes; JOSS ACKLAND plays the artist Matisse; and JOAN PLOWRIGHT plays Francoise's formidable and compassionate grandmother. JOSEPH MAHER portrays Picasso's long-suffering art dealer, Kahnweiler, and BOB PECK is Francoise's brutal and rigid father.
The formidable group of behind-the-camera talent involved in the making of "Surviving Picasso" includes director of photography TONY PIERCE-ROBERTS, production designer LUCIANA ARRIGHI, editor ANDREW MARCUS, costume designer CAROL RAMSEY and composer RICHARD ROBBINS. The executive producers are DONALD ROSENFELD and PAUL BRADLEY. Warner Bros. will distribute "Surviving Picasso" worldwide.
About the Production
Award-winning producer David L. Wolper is known around the globe for the hundreds of biographical documentaries and dramas he has created for television and theatrical distribution. And in the course of their thirty-year association, Ismail Merchant, James Ivory and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala have earned respect, renown and a worldwide following for their intimate films, often set in other historical periods and examining characters and social mores in a dramatically illuminating fashion.
The story of Pablo Picasso's life, particularly the years '43 - '53, is an appropriate new chapter to all of their work, although it is only the second biographical film Merchant and Ivory have made together, the first being "Jefferson in Paris." In truth, Picasso lived his life on a larger scale than those around him: his appetite for experience was so great that he did many things to excess and continued to create masterful art into his ninth decade.
David Wolper, for whom "Surviving Picasso" is a long-cherished project, has been fascinated by the legend, work and life of Picasso for many years. As a major collector of Picasso's sculpture, Wolper had the opportunity to deeply consider the artist as a creative force before he learned the details of his personal life.
"I became extremely interested in telling this personal story about Picasso, a story that was separate from his artistic biography, but I waited many years until I found Jim, Ismail and Ruth, who were the perfect team to do it justice."
Director James Ivory's interest in Picasso dates back to his student days at the University of Oregon. "I was studying architecture, then I switched to a general course in fine arts, which included painting," Ivory recalls. "And at that time (1946-51), way out there in Oregon, Picasso was king.
"All the students (and some of the teachers, too) wanted to be like Picasso -- to live like Picasso and some of the other great 20th-century French painters. I was the same as all the others; I came to France when I was 22 and lived among a lot of American painters in Paris. Picasso had by then moved to the South of France but his name was everywhere and his influence was everywhere. Really, for young painters at that time he was a god."
When Ivory was approached to make a film about Picasso, he found a wealth of material, much of it recorded by men and women who had actually been part of that life. Fortunately, Warner Bros. had acquired the rights to Arianna Stassinopoulos' biography, Picasso: Creator and Destroyer, and this book, with its meticulous research and formidable array of facts, became the main source for the screenplay.
Says Wolper, "Picasso made such an enormous impact, not just on the art world, but on all modern culture. He changed the way we see things; he opened the window to a new kind of vision and imagination that is still influencing our art. I always wanted to tell his story, to show the creative power of such a person.
The contrast between his enormous insight as an artist and his selfishness and childish behavior as a human being -- and the charm and charisma that he could muster to overcome every negative act -- the complexity of this man was really fascinating.
"When I discussed this idea for a film with Warner Bros., we thought that Ismail Merchant, Jim Ivory and Ruth Jhabvala had the skill and the delicacy to tell this story in a subtle and balanced way. And when I spoke with Ismail about working on this project, he said that he and Jim had considered making this movie in much the same way. So we were happy to be able to join forces."
Ivory agrees that the contradictions in Picasso's nature are central to telling his story. "He was very difficult and often tyrannical, but with tremendous charisma. And of course he was a very great artist."
Ivory, his producing partner, Ismail Merchant, and David Wolper went to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala for a script of the story. Jhabvala, who has partnered with the Merchant-Ivory team on fifteen feature films, as well as three of their films for television, won a BAFTA award for Best Screenplay for their production of "Heat and Dust," two Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay for "A Room With a View" and "Howards End" and an Academy Award nomination for her adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Remains of the Day."
States Ismail Merchant, "Fifty million things have already been written about Picasso, but Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's focus, her understanding of artists, is amazingly acute."
Casting
With the finished script in hand, the filmmakers began their search for actors to play the roles. Anthony Hopkins, who had already collaborated with Merchant Ivory on "Howards End" and "The Remains of the Day," and with Wolper on "Victory at Entebbe!," soon became the trio's choice to portray Picasso.
Says Ivory, "Tony seemed the natural choice. Physically he was absolutely right. Beyond that, I felt he was one of those actors -- and they are rare -- who can convincingly portray a man of genius."
After Hopkins was given a dark tan, close-shaven haircut and dark contact lenses, Ivory asserted that "onscreen, he looked tremendously like Picasso. He has the same build Picasso had."
Hopkins read extensively to learn about the character he was about to portray. He concludes, "I can't sit in judgement on the man. He was obviously complex, a selfish man and probably a generous one, too -- a complete paradox. It's their tunnel vision, obsession, that makes great artists...such artists don't have much time for people outside that and it makes them abominably selfish, but then you say, well, that's the way they are.
Hopkins says that the toughness he found in Picasso is something to which he can now relate. "As an actor one has to be pretty ruthless -- very tough, very strong. And perhaps I've gotten tougher and stronger over the years; I probably don't waste much time now."
Hopkins approached the role of the greatest artist of the 20th century with caution. "I played him as a human being, as it seems to me he was. The most difficult part was getting into a convincing speech pattern, because I'm not doing a Spanish accent. The slighly 'off' accent that came up better fits me physically and I hope I've gotten the rhythm of the man."
Although Picasso was older than Hopkins, the actor says that didn't present a problem. "He was a remakably fit-looking man at the age of 90. And in his 70s he was very fit and strong. What I did for physical preparation was to lose a lot of weight, maybe 30 pounds, and exercise a lot. I'm in very good shape, I've got more energy than I've ever had, and I'm lighter than I've been in 20-odd years. I wish I'd done it years ago!"
Finding someone to play Francoise was a bigger challenge. The filmmakers needed a young woman who could portray the freshness, energy and innocence that first attracted Picasso. However, she also needed to have a strong sense of herself, and a presence that could hold its own against an actor of Anthony Hopkins' stature.
Natascha McElhone, a young British theater actress just two years out of drama school, was agreed by everyone to be just right for the part. She was cast after both Ivory and Merchant saw her on stage in a production of Shakespeare's "Richard III."
Says director Ivory, "After a long search in America, Britain and France, I felt we had found the right girl. You can believe in Natascha playing an artist -- she has that kind of sensibility."
McElhone was drawn to the role even as she recognized its challenges. "Picasso saw women either as goddesses or as doormats; Francoise was definitely the former. She's a strong woman -- and there aren't many roles like that today."
McElhone continues, "There is a point in the movie where you think perhaps Picasso is going to destroy Francoise, but she overcomes it. She doesn't let him walk all over her. The film, after all, is called 'Surviving Picasso!'"
The actress prepared for her film debut by reading and studying extensively. "I did quite a lot of work and research," she relates, "because I wanted to be sure I knew what I was doing."
Julianne Moore, whose previous film credits have been as diverse as "Safe" and "Assassins," plays Dora Maar, the woman who is replaced in Picasso's affections by Francoise. "I think her relationship with Picasso was difficult," says Moore of her character. "I don't know that he loved her as much as she would have liked. He felt that she was the one woman he could really talk to about art -- but in his romantic involvement with her, I don't know if it was as complete, or certainly as long, as she wanted it to be."
Diane Venora, recently seen in Michael Mann's crime saga, "Heat," in which she played opposite Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, portrays Jacqueline Roque in "Surviving Picasso." Roque, with whom Picasso begins an affair while he is living with Francoise, makes herself into a virtual servant, attempting to fulfill Picasso's every need in order to keep him with her. Eventually her determination pays off and Picasso marries her, but not before he begs Francoise to return to him in front of Roque.
"Jacqueline Roque was a strong woman, but in a different way than Francoise," says Venora. "I think what she wanted more than anything was to be Picasso's wife, no matter what personal sacrifice she had to make. In Francoise's eyes, Jacqueline gave up her dignity, but to Picasso it was natural that a woman would subjugate her own life to his. He merely thought of her as obedient and useful, and that made Jacqueline happy, because she knew he needed her."
Picasso's relationships with his long-time friend and assistant Sabartes and with the great, aged artist, Matisse, are aspects of the film that illuminate additional facets of Picasso's personality as they reveal more about the world in which he existed.
Picasso relied absolutely on Sabartes to organize his life, protect him from distractions and celebrity-seekers, take care of his business affairs, and to carry out many other tedious tasks. Yet, though he would have been lost without this man, Picasso treated Sabartes like a servant, and not as the friend, confidant and protector that he actually was.
Says Ivory, "There is a scene in the movie where Sabartes bursts out bitterly to Francoise about how little Picasso regards Sabartes' lifetime of sacrifice. But Sabartes' own anger dies down as even he realizes how much he wants and needs to be a part, however unappreciated, of this great artist's life. The speech says a great deal about how Picasso was able to extract such exceptional devotion from those around him -- how powerful an effect his art and personality had on many of those who knew him."
Matisse, on the other hand, was one of the few people whom Picasso himself attempted to please. Says Ivory, "Picasso recognized the great gifts of Matisse; he admired him enormously. When Picasso was in his 60s, Matisse was in his 80s, a frail but serene and happy man. I think Picasso felt a little like Matisse's son; he alternated between competing with the older man and honoring him, but what is exceptional about their friendship is that the honoring usually won out.
"It's an illustration, perhaps, of how important great art was to Picasso, that he attributed dignity, intelligence and an independent viewpoint only to this man, whose work he so admired. Almost no one else was ever regarded or treated so well by Picasso."
The other cast members were gradually selected and began preparing for their roles as pre-production got underway in the South of France and at England's Pinewood Studios.
Production Design and Costumes
Creating the settings of "Surviving Picasso" was an enormous challenge for production designer Luciana Arrighi. Arrighi, a veteran of many stage and opera productions, has collaborated with the Merchant Ivory team -- as well as Anthony Hopkins -- on both "Howards End," for which she received an Academy Award, and "The Remains of the Day," for which she was Oscar-nominated.
For this latest project, she had to create sets which ranged from detailed realism to expressionistic and flamboyant representations of different periods in Picasso's painting career -- sets, morever, on a scale not often seen in film today. "We built both floors of Picasso's studio," Arrighi says proudly, referring to the 18th-century stone mansion that housed Picasso's work on the Rue des Grand-Augustins in Paris for nearly two decades.
Arrighi drew on the extensive photographic and literary coverage of Picasso's life and companions, but she had an additional advantage to draw upon. Part of her childhood was spent in Nice on the French Riviera during the decade following Picasso's own time there. "Ismail says it's serendipity," smiles Arrighi.
Costume designer Carol Ramsey, collaborating for the third time with Merchant and Ivory, following "Slaves of New York" and "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge," also used photographic resources, as well as her knowledge of the characteristically drab garb of Occupied Paris and the subsequent fashion that blossomed forth after the war ended.
Says Ramsey, "I did more research on this project than for any other in my career. After all, audiences of today know what Picasso looked like -- it's important to make these actors fit as seamlessly into their roles as possible, and costuming is part of that."
Other locations used in filming included Paris and various sites in the South of France, such as Hyeres and Giens, near Toulon, where scenes of the extended Picasso family on the beach were filmed. The meeting between Picasso and Matisse took place on a set at Pinewood Studios constructed after Matisse's large apartment in the Hotel Regina, in Nice.
On the Set
James Ivory and Ismail Merchant, who have been partnered for so many successful years, brought forth comments about the difference in their personalities as they worked with the cast during production.
"We try not to get in each other's hair and we pretty much succeed. That's the basis of our working relationship," says Ivory dryly.
After making three films with Merchant and Ivory in four years, Anthony Hopkins says, "They're an odd combination, really. Ismail is quite notorious. He has a reputation of brinksmanship which has become a sort of joke. But he's got tremendous persuasive powers; he could charm the birds out of the trees.
"James is a cooler customer. He doesn't say much but he's very astute; it's as if he directs by Zen. There's no fuss, no tension on the set. You have a sense of freedom all the time but he's always in control. He has a vision of what he wants, but there's a lot of improvisation. He doesn't seem to have an ego that's threatened like some directors have."
Comments Natascha McElhone, "James is very relaxed; he doesn't crush your instincts and your urges. And he's very sensitive.
"Ismail comes in and he's a ray of sunlight -- he lights up the room. Always very happy, very jolly, very approachable. Not conventional at all. He cooks brilliantly -- lots of curry! -- a very colorful personality."
Merchant and Ivory, who recently filmed "Jefferson in Paris" in the City of Light, used all of their persuasive powers to once again coax permission to use of some of Paris' most famous sites for their newest movie. One Sunday morning in August, 1995, between dawn and 11 a.m., scenes of the German occupation were filmed at the picturesque Place de la Concorde, where 400 German soldiers and a marching band materialized and dispersed after wrapping. After completing their work there, the production unit moved to the Left Bank to shoot the city's liberation by the Allied troops in the afternoon. Then they, too, vanished in time to meet the film permit deadline.
When the production filmed at the chic Brasserie Lipp and CafÈ de Flore, it gave tourists and residents of Paris something extra to observe during last winter. Scenes were filmed there re-enacting Picasso's frequent visits to the two restaurants, which were dressed as they had looked during the 1940s.
Once the film was completed, and editing was underway under Andrew Marcus' supervision, composer Richard Robbins was called in to create the score for "Surviving Picasso."
A frequent collaborator with the Merchant-Ivory team, Robbins' previous work with them includes "Heat and Dust," "A Room With a View," "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge," and two Oscar-nominated scores, for "Howards End" and "The Remains of the Day." Robbins created a score with themes emphasizing the characters and their emotions, underlining the intensely personal nature of this story about an immortal artist known around the world and the young woman who captured his heart.
Warner Bros. Presents a Merchant Ivory/Wolper Production of A James Ivory Film: Anthony Hopkins in "Surviving Picasso," starring Natascha McElhone, Julianne Moore, Joss Ackland, Peter Eyre, Jane Lapotaire, Joseph Maher, Bob Peck, Diane Venora and Joan Plowright. The music is by Richard Robbins; the co-producer is Humbert Balsan; the editor is Andrew Marcus; and the production designer is Luciana Arrighi. "Surviving Picasso" is photographed by Tony Pierce-Roberts. The executive producers are Donald Rosenfeld and Paul Bradley and the screenplay is by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. The film is produced by Ismail Merchant and David L. Wolper. It is directed by James Ivory. Distributed by Warner Bros., A Time Warner Entertainment Company.
©1996 Warner Bros.