'Final Portrait' has stagey action
The famed Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti gets the nutty genius treatment in writer-director Stanley Tucci鈥檚 鈥淔inal Portrait,鈥� starring Geoffrey Rush and Armie Hammer and based on the memoir by Giacometti鈥檚 American writer friend, James Lord. Known for his sculptures of rail-thin, sensually elongated people, Giacometti was also an accomplished painter. Set in 1964, the movie is primarily about how Lord, about to fly back to New York from Paris, agrees to sit for his portrait, expecting the job would be finished in a few hours or days at most. He ends up posing for quite a bit longer as Giacometti obsessively fudges and smudges his handiwork.
The film鈥檚 inexplicably grayish palette doesn鈥檛 do the artist or the artwork any favors, and the action, which mostly takes place in Giacometti鈥檚 plaster sculpture-strewn studio, is stagey. Hammer is rather bland, which he tends to be when he鈥檚 not playing edgy swellheads (as in 鈥淭he Social Network鈥�), but Rush masticates the scenery with a high degree of expertise. After all,聽he's played nutty geniuses and eccentrics before (Albert Einstein, Peter Sellers, David Helfgott in "Shine").聽In a supporting role as Giacometti鈥檚 beleaguered wife, who endures her husband鈥檚 penchant for prostitutes, the great, undervalued French actress Sylvie Testud strikes the film鈥檚 most resonant note. Grade:聽C+ (Rated R for language, some sexual references, and nudity.)
