Did you miss the TV premiere of the animated film about van Gogh? It is available on RaiPlay

Did you miss the TV premiere of the animated film Loving Vincent airing Dec. 26 at 10 p.m. on Rai3? Don’t worry, it is available on RaiPlay so you can watch it whenever and as much as you wish.

Released in theaters in 2017 as part of La Grande Arte al Cinema and viewable only on Oct. 16-17-18 of the same year, it has now been broadcast on TV for the first time. It is the first feature-length film (91 minutes) entirely painted on canvas that chronicles the works and life of Vincent van Gogh (Zundert, 1853 - Auvers-sur-Oise, 1890). In fact, the animated film was created through the elaboration of the painter’s most famous paintings: thousands of images (65 thousand) accomplished by 125 artists who combined to create a striking feature film. Throughout the film, the artist’s masterpieces are recognizable in a flowing narrative: ninety-four of his paintings were reproduced in a form similar to the original, while more than thirty were represented in partial form.

The result is a poetic marriage of art, technology and painting: indeed, it is the paintings that accompany the viewer through the biography and creative activity of the Dutch painter. These include Café by Night, Wheatfield with Flight of Crows, Starry Night, Portrait of Dr. Gachet, and the unfailing Self-Portraits of the artist himself. Through the animated paintings van Gogh’s life unfolds, as well as the plot of the film. Written and directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, Loving Vincent takes off in the summer of 1891, in France. A young man with no aspirations, Armand Roulin, receives a letter from his father, letter carrier Joseph Roulin, to be hand-delivered in Paris to Théo van Gogh, Vincent’s brother. The painter had recently taken his own life. Armand is not at all happy about the mission he has been given: he is embarrassed by the friendship between his father and Vincent, a foreign painter who cut off his ear and was committed to a local asylum. In Paris, however, there is no trace of Théo. The search for the latter will lead Armand to Père Tanguy, a paint merchant, and later to the quiet village of Auvers-sur-Oise, to the doctor who cared for Vincent in his last weeks of life, Dr. Paul Gachet. He will then go to the Ravoux inn, where Vincent stayed during his last ten weeks and where he died on July 29, 1890, from a bullet in the abdomen. Here Armand will also meet the owner’s daughter Adeline Ravoux, the doctor’s maid and daughter, and, by the river, also the boatman who knew the painter. Continuous revelations will follow one another for a journey that is both exciting and heartbreaking.

The characters in the feature film are also inspired by well-known actors: Vincent van Gogh has the likeness of Robert Gulaczyk, Adeline Ravoux of Eleanor Tomlinson, Armand Roulin is “played” by Douglas Booth; and again, Dr. Gachet is Jerome Flynn, daughter Marguerite Gachet is Saoirse Ronan, letter carrier Joseph Roulin is Chris O’Dowd, the shopkeeper who supplied colors to van Gogh Père Tanguy is John Sessions, Aidan Turner plays the role of the boatman, and finally Helen McCrory plays the role of Dr. Gachet’s maid Louise Chevalier.

Loving Vincent was nominated for an Academy Award in 2018 for best animated film.

To watch Loving Vincent on RaiPlay click here

Did you miss the TV premiere of the animated film about van Gogh? It is available on RaiPlay

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