Lust for Life (1956)

Lust for Life is a lavish MGM biopic of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Irving Stone, who also wrote The Agony and the Ecstasy. Lust for Life is a great looking picture, full of beautiful location shots that are gorgeous in Metrocolor, makes excellent use of its subject artists actual paintings, and the costume and set designs are most impressive. While technically very competent my problem with the picture is that Vincent is just not very likable, he's the kind of person that you would put up with if your related to him, but would probably avoid if you weren't. Kirk Douglas does an admirable job in the title roll, and I certainly learned a lot about van Gough, such as the fact the he was a protestant missionary among Belgian coal workers in the 1870's. Still a tortured artiest story is always going to seem more then a little self indulgent, and is a tough sell, especially when done with a studio system gloss, this might have worked better as an independent film made decades later. While from a formalist perspective I could give this film ***,  as its about an expressionist and a bit of a slog I give it **.