"Earthy." "Sensuous." The overworked adjectives of the critic's palette are pressed into emergency duty, required to describe the Cesar-winning French drama "Seraphine," in L.A. theaters Friday, and Yolande Moreau's performance as a cleaning lady with a secret life as a painter of, well, earthy and sensuous natural life.
A biopic of Seraphine de Senlis, concentrating on her years of thwarted artistic ambition and the belated discovery of her work, Martin Provost's film lives and dies with Moreau, who conveys the painter's undimmed spirit with weary grace. Having the area known as "The Valley of the Impressionist Painters" as your backyard, one might imagine, would assist in the process of re-creating the interior life of one of the great untutored artists of the early 20th century.
Neighbors in the Vexin region, about one hour north of Paris, Moreau and Provost had the opportunity to explore the beauty of their natural surroundings as a prelude to collaboration.
"We took lots of walks in the countryside that Martin liked very much and that he wanted to see in the film," says Moreau, whose preparation for the role's challenging blend of the spiritual and the physical ranged far afield. "I took some painting training with a teacher in order to be familiar [with the technique] and know how to handle things. Another thing was learning the Gregorian chants. I went to see the priest of my parish, where I live in the countryside, and he taught me those psalms in Latin."
Provost credits their proximity with assisting in solidifying a bond between actor and director. "The fact that we live in the same area, Yolande and I, created opportunities to build links and connections and to work very well together before we started making the film."
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Clown beginnings
Moreau, 56, with a fluting voice and a notable resemblance to a trimmer, gentler Roseanne Barr, has approached success in roundabout fashion. Born in Brussels, Moreau studied theater as a youngster and the art of clowning as an adult. Putting her training to good use, Moreau toured the world in the 1980s with her one-woman show, "A Dirty Business of Sex and Crime," which delicately combined comedy and drama, cajoling audiences into laughing at what might, in other circumstances, be horrific. Making use of elaborate masks, makeup and wordplay, Moreau presented a highly personal meditation on love and mortality dressed up as a comic thriller. There is a gun and murder, but the real crimes are all emotional ones.
