Nightwatching

Peter Greenaway's Nightwatching

Sixteen years after Prospero’s Books, our Lord of cinema Peter Greenaway returns to Venice with an intense work based on the life of painter Rembrandt.

Not a traditional biopic, the film is set in 1642 and follows Rembrandt’s private life and loves, and particularly the conception of his famous painting The Nightwatch.

After Rembrandt happens to discover that the Amsterdam militia is behind the murder of a noble man, the painter depicts the militia on canvas, filling the painting with clues that hint at the murder.
This  is a fatal choice: after that point, the artist is disgraced.

His recent films have been dismissed as snobbish, academic, cold.
But this time Greenaway goes back to the 17th century and the atmosphere of The Draughtsman’s Contract, his first success, and stages a theatrical yet compelling film.

Part of the merit goes to lead actor Martin Freeman, sensual and fiery, and strong supporting actresses Eva Birthistle (Rembrandt’s wife Saskia) and Natalie Press (Marieke, the angel of birth.)

From an aesthetic standpoint, much of the charm of this film is due to the contrasting cinematography by Reinier van Brummelen (the film is a British-Dutch co-production and the crew is largely Dutch) and the theatrical set design.
But this visual perfection does not take over the story: on the contrary, Rembrandt’s life and deeds are fascinating and moving, and Greenaway’s direction finds a perfect balance between the hot matter he’s filming and the cold objectivity of his eye. Wlodek Pawlik’s original score reminds me at times of Michael Nyman.

 It is still too early, but this writer thinks that Greenaway won’t go back to England empty-handed.

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