Purely Joyful Movie!

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Clouzot directs this unbelievable production, of a aging Picasso, to draw on his notoriety and fame, and teach painting on your VHS, on your DVD, on your Blu-Ray, in the Cinema, on TV, on your Computer! It's in the fine details, the process of painting is translated on camera to get a closer look into the brush that is Pablo Picasso. Cinema reaches it's highest output and result in this A+ visual experiment. I call it, "The Apex And History of Cinema."You get a behind the scene look in the filming, with some dialogue added to the fluid operations taking place using the, I think silk'ish canvas that would be transparent to capture on celluloid. One of the only films that you can never stop enjoying. To infinity, and then some. It's Picasso and Clouzot who validate cinema as fine art, or as close as you get to fine art, anyhow.

The Mystery of Picasso is to painting what Woodstock is to hippies: it's a definitive piece that comes only once in a very great while. Cluzot, the director, is innovative by just letting Picasso go on with his work, and like a good concert director only gets so much in the way to make it interesting as a piece of cinema. What we get here are almost two dozen pieces from Picasso- who, already in his old age, can still paint not only like some fiery master but with an A-game every step of the way- and the camera films it from the other side of the canvas most of the time, capturing what goes on it in a seamless style. We're never aware of a brush going onto the canvas, or color being added on from the paintbrush itself, but we know there's creation because we're seeing it made in front of our eyes. It's exhilarating if you're the right kind of audience.And by 'right kind of audience' I mean the kind that has an affinity or interest in art, and particularly for Picasso. I'm not art critic, so I can't pretend to go completely in-depth on all of Picasso's pieces, or explain definitively why they're good or crappy or masterworks. It is my opinion that Picasso's works are total originals, and they're like surrealist works from a childlike perspective, though still with a pure sense of the anarchic that we expect from such artistic rebels. But with certain drawings, like the two men staring at the woman, or the bullfighter and the bull, or that strange (dare I define which is stranger than one or another) picture of the flowers, or that creepy chicken, you don't really know what's going to happen next with the drawing or painting (especially if it's one of the ones in color and done in stop-motion), and this, alongside excellent and varied music, puts a sense of surprise into every painting, of what colors and movements will go next.I loved this movie, though as I said it takes a certain mood to get into it. Obviously, any fan of Picasso or any of those 'out-there' early 20th century masters will go completely ga-ga for the film, and for the innovative style that's mixed in (i.e. going in-between sometimes the canvas itself and Cluzot sort of 'directing' Picasso to go faster or to another picture). But even for those who usually don't have an interest in this stuff, it's worth taking a chance; you certainly won't see anything else like it in cinema.

If there was one word to describe this film for me, it would be "inspirational". And I think anyone who practices art or appreciates the process of art, can find this film enjoyable to watch. The film's title speaks for itself. We are engaged in an experimental documentary watching a prodigy at work and trying to unravel the magic of how it all happens. In the beginning there is a voice-over narrated introduction to the film, "Nobody knew what Rimbaud thought of when he wrote the poem "the drunk boat"." And then we realize that we are in for a real treat. Who would ever guess that the master of cubism would allow us to see his creative ideas at work? Most artists are very stubborn about this sort of thing, but then again most famous artists are also pretty ego-centric. The film places the camera behind a canvas that leaves the image transparent so that we can see the painting process without looking over the shoulder. There is a beautiful classical score along with this film and as the drawings progress, Picasso then takes on bigger challenges with paintings. The pacing is just right where the drawing process starts slow and then the strokes become faster with time-lapse photography. There is an amazing moment where the cameraman warns Picasso that he is about to run out of film. Picasso asks how many feet is left and calculates the timing of his painting and just at the last second, Picasso transforms the entire piece into something unexpected and radically different. We can see the spontaneity and playfulness in his work. The end is a mural shaped painting that evolves through many stages until Picasso says something like "its ruined. I have ruined the painting and yet at the same time, its improving." This is an indication of Picasso's fearless drive. When he paints, he is on fire. He works diligently for hours. Its fascinating to see little figures that he will paint over and over with more detail or more color. He wants to emphasize details that seem so ambiguous and its as if he's saying to the audience "look at this" "keep looking at this" "this is important." I first saw this film in the theater when I was about ten or twelve years old. I'm glad my family friends took me to see this. It has inspired me throughout the years. I saw the film again when I was twenty-four and it was just as I remembered it. After it was over, I did the same thing I did when I first saw the film; I pulled out a sketchbook and started drawing. This film is a real treat.

This film reminds us that film is visual - very few words are spoken in Le Mystère Picasso. Instead, the camera just trains in canvas and white paper and watches Picasso create. It could have been boring, but instead it's hypnotic. One learns about the creative process without lecture!