Story
The animated movie Loving Vincent is the world’s first totally oil-painted feature movie. Its graphics are based on the paintings of Vincent van Gogh.
The movie is set one year after Vincent’s death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Joseph Roulin (voice of Chris O’Dowd), postmaster and Vincent’s close friend, has an undelivered letter that Vincent wrote just before his death. The letter is addressed to Vincent’s brother Theo. Joseph entrusts the delivery of the letter to his son Armand (voice of Douglas Booth). When Armand attempts to deliver the letter he discovers that Theo is also dead, leaving Armand wondering to whom he should deliver the letter.
Armand travels to the town where Vincent lived, hoping that he might find out how the artist could go from being reportedly content to suicidal in six weeks. Armand soon finds that everyone who knew Vincent has a different view on how he met his death.
By the movie’s end the audience gains some insight into the life and trials of the painter, who produced over 800 paintings in eight years but sold only one. But there are still many unanswered questions surrounding his death.
Themes
Suicide; self-mutilation; sexually transmitted diseases; mental illness
Violence
Loving Vincent has some animated violence. For example:
Sexual references
Loving Vincent has some sexual references. For example:
- There’s a reference to a man who has died from syphilis.
- There’s a reference to Vincent presenting his severed ear to a ‘whore’.
- A woman makes suggestive remarks about Vincent seeing a woman, but the woman is out of his league.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
Loving Vincent shows some use of substances. For example:
- People drink wine, beer and spirits socially in several scenes.
- In a couple of scenes men drinking alcohol get drunk. They stagger, slur their words and become aggressive. In one scene several drunk men have a fist fight, and one man ends up in jail.
- Men and women smoke cigarettes throughout the movie, and men also smoke pipes.
Nudity and sexual activity
Loving Vincent shows some partial nudity and sexual activity. For example:
- Sexily dressed prostitutes flirt with men in a brothel.
- A fully clothed man and woman have sexual intercourse.
Product placement
None
Coarse language
Loving Vincent has some coarse language.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Loving Vincent is an animated drama targeting older teenagers and adults. It has particular appeal for lovers of van Gogh’s art, who will enjoy the unique animation. The movie was entirely handpainted in oils by over 100 artists, with over 60 000 individual frames painted over seven years.
Because of its disturbing themes and images, Loving Vincent is not recommended for children under 13 years. We recommend parental guidance for children aged 13-15 years, and there’s a lot in this movie you could talk about with children in this age group.
The main message from this movie is that talented artists can be troubled by psychological problems that lead to them being excluded, misunderstood and undervalued by those around them.
You could talk with your children about why people shun Vincent and discriminate against him. Are they scared of him because he’s different? Is it his psychological disorder that they don’t understand and are afraid of, or are they ignorant of his genius?