The film is set in Paris in the early 1960s where the famous sculptor Alberto Giacometti, tired of the boredom of life and excessive attention from colleagues and critics, finds peace in the company of American writer James Lord who was posing for the painter. The film is based on Lord’s book, A Giacometti Portrait (1965).
In describing his sculptures—walking figures with elongated proportions and rough surfaces—Giacometti said that he made not people, but their shadows. Director Stanley Tucci believes that the most important thing in Giacometti’s art is how the objects structuralize the space around them. The film’s imagery was inspired not only by Paris of the 1960s (which the director avoided romanticizing) but also by the sculptor’s creative vision: Tucci used intriguing camera angles that shaped the space around actors Geoffrey Rush and Armie Hammer.
The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2017. Geoffrey Rush, who played Giacometti, won the Berlinale Camera award for his exceptional acting.
Final Portrait
Director Stanley Tucci, UK-USA, 2017, 90 min
16+