Nightwatching/Rembrandt’s J’Accuse

Synopsis: In NIGHTWATCHING Peter Greenaway explores the life of Rembrandt in a biographical feature that uses the 1642 painting The Night Watch as a launching point to explore the 17th Century artist’s life from an entirely new perspective. Martin Henderson assumes the role of the prolific painter, with Eva Birthistle, Jodhi May, and Emily Holmes in the roles of his wife and mistresses respectively. (138 minutes)

REMBRANDT’S J’ACCUSE is an essayistic documentary in which Greenaway’s fierce criticism of today’s visual illiteracy is argued by means of a forensic search of Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. He argues that the painting contains an accusation of murder and analyses the mysteries in the work that may have caused Rembrandt’s downfall. Greenaway explains the background, the context, the conspiracy, the murder and the motives of all its 34 painted characters who conspired to kill for their combined self-advantage. He leads us through Rembrandt’s paintings into 17th century Amsterdam, a world that seemed democratic in principle but was almost entirely ruled by twelve families, and he questions the image of these regents as being charitable and compassionate. (88 minutes)
Language: English
Country: Finland
Year of release: 2010
Year of production: 2008
Subjects: Art; Film studies
Keywords: art - Dutch; history of art; Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669); Greenaway, Peter

Director

Peter Greenaway

Writer

Peter Greenaway

Cast

Name: Axiom Films International
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Notes: Established in 1997, Axiom Films is a leading independent producer and distributor of cutting edge films, with a rapidly expanding library of high quality titles. Sale.

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