Taglines: An obsessive vision. A desperate dream. A world that didn’t understand… And a brother that did.
Vincent and Theo movie storyline. It’s the late nineteenth century. Adult Dutch brothers Vincent Van Gogh and Theo Van Gogh, living in Paris, lead differing lives despite having art as a connection. Vincent, who sticks to his principles which includes believing in God but not religion, wants to be a full time painter, living in squalor for his art. Theo, who works in an art gallery, lives for the moment, he selling art which he doesn’t much like to lead a comfortable life.
One other area of commonality between the brothers is easily succumbing to pleasures of the flesh. Theo does not sell Vincent’s art, as he knows it is not in demand. Vincent’s view of his brother does not change when he learns it is Theo, and not their father which he had previously thought, who is supporting him. Each brother is a tortured soul – in Vincent’s case, it considered in some circles as madness – which affects how each deals with his respective life.
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.”
Vincent and Theo (1990)
Directed by: Robert Altman
Starring: Tim Roth, Paul Rhys, Adrian Brine, Jean-François Perrier, Yves Dangerfield, Hans Kesting, Peter Tuinman, Marie-Louise Stheins, Oda Spelbos, Sarah Bentham
Screenplay by: Julian Mitchell
Production Design by: Stephen Altman
Cinematography by: Jean Lépine
Film Editing by: Françoise Coispeau, Geraldine Peroni
Costume Design by: Scott Bushnell
Music by: Gabriel Yared
Distributed by: Hemdale
Release Date: November 2, 1990
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