Seraphine
2008. Martin Provost. France. 125 min. Color
7 César Awards: Best Picture & Best Actress
National Society of Film Critics: Best Actress
LA Film Critics: Best Actress
“SUBLIME! One of the most evocative films about an artist I’ve ever seen.” —New York Magazine
“4 STARS! Miraculous.” —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
In 1912 Wilhelm Uhde, a German art critic and collector — he was one of the first collectors of Picasso and champion of naïve primitive painter Le Douanier Rousseau — discovered her paintings while she worked for him as a maid in his lodgings in Senlis outside Paris. Uhde became her patron and grouped her work with other naïve painters – the so-called “Sacred Heart Painters” — with acclaimed shows in Paris, elsewhere in Europe and eventually at New York’s MOMA.
Director Martin Provost builds his story around the relationship between the avant-garde art dealer and the visionary cleaning lady, forging a testament to the mysteries of creativity and the resilience of one woman’s spirit.
A sleeper hit in France, SÉRAPHINE went on to a surprise win of the Best Picture and Best Actress for Yolande Moreau along with five other awards at the 2009 Cesars, the French equivalent of the Academy Awards.
While you watch the film, enjoy a glass of wine and a light snack in the intimate cabaret atmosphere of the Leonard Nimoy Thalia.




















