Picassos äventyr (1978)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Tage Danielsson

Writers:

Hans Alfredson (writer) &
Tage Danielsson (writer)

Release Date:

20 May 1978 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Tusen kärleksfulla lögner av Hans Alfredson och Tage Danielsson

Plot:

Already in his childhood, Pablo Picasso shows talent for painting and is sent to the Academy of Arts in Madrid...

Plot Keywords:

Pablo Picasso | Painter | Art | Hitler | Fictional Biography

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Gösta Ekman	...	Picasso
Hans Alfredson	...	Don Jose
Margaretha Krook	...	Dona Maria
Lena Olin	...	Dolores
Bernard Cribbins	...	Gertrude Stein / Narrator (voice)
Wilfrid Brambell	...	Alice B. Toklas
Lennart Nyman	...	Henri Rousseau
Per Oscarsson	...	Apollinaire
Elisabeth Söderström	...	Mimi
Gösta Winbergh	...	Picasso's singing voice (voice)
Birgitta Andersson	...	Ingrid Svensson-Guggenheim
Magnus Härenstam	...	Hitler
Sune Mangs	...	Churchill
Yngve Gamlin	...	Djagilev
Lisbeth Zachrisson	...	Olga

Also Known As:

The Adventures of Picasso (USA)

Runtime:

109 min | USA:88 min

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish | German | Spanish | Latin | Italian | French | Finnish | English | Russian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-8 | Sweden:7 | Netherlands:AL

Filming Locations:

Tomelilla, Skåne län, Sweden

Company:

Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Trivia:

The movie contains 10 languages: Swedish, English, Finnish, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French, German, Norwegian and Latin. Most sentences in the "foreign" languages (apart from the narration in Swedish) mean something completely other than what it seems, or mean nothing in particular: for example the lyric of the famous Finnish song is actually a recipe.

Quotes:

Elsa Beskow: [on Picasso's painting depicting a hideous version of a woman] And that was the birth of monsterism.

Movie Connections:

References Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)

Beyond language

I also picked up this film on VHS at an independent video store, and I was very taken with it. First, the film is a masterpiece of physical acting. Even thought they were speaking a number of different European languages, without subtitles, I had no problem understanding what was going on. It also makes wonderful use of surrealist imagery. I don't know a lot about Picasso, but I imagine someone who did would find this a fresh and entertaining take on the life of the man. Like a piece of Picasso's art, this movie is beyond language, I was left feeling like I knew how the man thought. If you enjoy physical comedy, this may be the most highbrow movie of that kind you'll ever see.