From Kirk Douglas as Van Gogh in Lust For Life to F. Murray Abraham's Salieri in Amadeus, the movies have long been attracted to the figure of the suffering artist. Continuing the tradition, this black-and-white French effort charts the agony of Antonin Artaud, the volatile French poet, intellectual and theatrical impresario who, on this evidence, took self-inflicted misery in the name of Art to new levels.
Set in post-War Paris, the film chronicles the last two years of Artaud's (Frey) life as told by the eager struggling poet, Jacques Prevel (Barbe). Their relationship becomes mutually beneficial: Prevel supplies Artaud with drugs; Artaud becomes Prevel's mentor expounding his melancholy and theories - chiefly, the notion that physical pain informs all creative acts. These meditations soon become the raison d'etre for the young disciple to the exclusion of his pregnant wife and drug dependent mistress.
Even though the ideas - artistic genius is tantamount to madness, Art equals immortality - have been seen before they find amplification in Frey's performance.