Art and cinema: the films of 2024 and those not to be missed in 2025.
The 2024 was a year that saw many connections between art and cinema. The multidisciplinary links between pop arts – music, cinema, TV series – and visual art were numerous. The 2025 already starts with new surprises.
Let’s think in 2024 about the cameo in the fourth season of Emily in Paris – and who knows what Emily will have in store during the new Roman season! –, set at Claude Monet’s house. We saw the protagonist dealing with her friend, the gallerist Camille, in a boat on the water lily pond of Giverny, the second most visited site in Normandy. What does the new year have in store for us?
Art in cinema: The Brutalist
The 2025 opens with good intentions! Directed by Brady Corbet and 215 minutes of film, aka 3 hours and 35 minutes, The Brutalist tells the story of a Jewish architect who survived the Holocaust. László Tóth decides to emigrate from Hungary to the United States in 1947. The protagonist is played by Adrien Brody, famous for his performance in The Pianist. The film won the Golden Globe. The release in theaters is scheduled for February 6.
The Gallerist, a film in theaters about the art market with the singer Charli XCX
The British popstar Charli XCX will star in the upcoming film about the art world The Gallerist, directed by Cathy Yan. Alongside her, famous actors and actresses have been cast – Natalie Portman, Jenna Ortega, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Zach Galifianakis, Sterling K. Brown, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It is a dark comedy in the vein of other psychological thrillers that focus on the theatricality and oddity of certain dynamics in the art world, from The Square (2017) to Velvet Buzzsaw (2019). The film is expected to be released in 2026!
Tilda Swinton, actress sensitive to contemporary art
Tilda Swinton is a bold actress sensitive to the themes of visual art, also becoming famous for playing the White Witch in the saga The Chronicles of Narnia. More than 10 years ago, she was the protagonist of a performance at the MoMA in New York: in 2013, lying inside a transparent case, she slept in front of the museum visitors. In 2025, a film by A24 “Problemista” will be released in which she plays an art critic, Elizabeth. The film was written, directed, and starred by Julio Torres, the comedian who has appeared on the Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live. The protagonist tries to navigate the United States immigration system and the world of art.
Art and art criticism in cinema: Problemista
In summary, Elizabeth is an extravagant art critic who promises to sponsor Alejandro’s visa if he assists her. The woman wants to organize an exhibition with the works of her late husband and have it featured in one of the most renowned and powerful galleries (Pace, Gagosian), even at the Whitney Museum. Too bad the husband was a painter obsessed with a single subject: eggs, the exhibition will have to be titled “13 eggs.” The realist-style paintings depict the white oval on a cerulean background, set against a percale tablecloth or a deep abyss. Additionally, Alejandro’s mother also displays an artistic flair, dreaming of architectural models. At the beginning of the film, the vision of a multicolored little house materializes for the young son.
Wim Wenders and the documentary on Kiefer, Art at the cinema
Released in Italian theaters in April, it is the second film of 2024 for Wim Wenders after Perfect Days. The 3D documentary Anselm is dedicated to the artist of Jewish origin Anselm Kiefer. The decision to shoot the documentary together was made 30 years ago, in 1991. The German director has always dreamed of being a painter, similarly the artist has always been attracted to film directing.
After Pina Bauch (2011), Wenders returned to using 3D to place the viewers at the center of Kiefer’s work and allow them to appreciate as much as possible the details of the enormous paintings.
Tilda Swinton and Wim Wenders
It will not surprise to know, given the premises, that Wim Wenders directed a film with Tilda Swinton for Chanel! For the Métiers d’art Show 2024/25 of the brand we see the actress in China, in Hangzhou. In the short film, the actress is seen filming the ancient Chinese screens of Coromandel. Gabrielle Chanel, known as Coco, loved them.
https://youtu.be/mwehcPQUC3g?si=CqFQjNyCJnA69bK6
The boy and the heron by Hayao Miyazaki
The Isle of the Dead by Arnold Böcklin is directly referenced in the poster of the animated film by Hayao Miyazaki, released in Italy in cinemas exactly one year ago (January 2024). For some settings, the references to the empty and silent squares of the founder of Metaphysics, Giorgio de Chirico, are evident. Then, as noted by the illustration expert Alex Urso, one of the first sequences of The Boy and the Heron shows a huge building in flames “with people struggling to put out the fire. Explicit or not, the reference to ‘The City Rises’ by Umberto Boccioni“ can be particularly eloquent.
A group therapy, the art of Mondrian
The direction is by Paolo Costella, son of the artist Renata Boero. Part of the cast are Margherita Buy, Claudio Santamaria, Claudio Bisio, Valentina Lodovini, Leo Gassmann.
Already from the manifesto, the compositions of Piet Mondrian, founder of the De Stijl movement, are echoed. Vertical and horizontal lines, orthogonality, and primary colors allude to the obsession with symmetry suffered by one of the 6 characters. Liliana, in fact, arranges the objects she has at hand in an orderly fashion, refuses to step on the lines of the tiles, and repeats every sentence twice.
The protagonists are patients who struggle daily with psychiatric issues: Tourette Syndrome, arithmomania – the compulsion to count everything –, the obsession with hygiene and symmetry, FOMO – or the fear of being left out. Thus, the group finds themselves in the waiting room of a psychologist specializing in obsessive-compulsive disorders, Dr. Stern, who has scheduled their appointments at the same time.
The show Maria Montessori
La Nouvelle Femme or Maria Montessori (2023), scene from the film by Léa Todorov. © Geko Films, Tempesta
In the first half of the twentieth century, Maria Montessori founded a philosophy of learning and an alternative teaching method to the one adopted, at the time, in schools. Yet, the world was not ready to embrace her ideas, just as it was not ready to understand the work of the painter Hilma af Klint. This latter artist never exhibited her works in a public show during her lifetime. Therefore, the film connects the two women. How? By including in some scenes various paintings by Hilma af Klint, of which you can see a large retrospective at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, open until February 2, 2025.
Lady Gaga “gives” the Joker’s smile to the Monnalisa
On the occasion of the film released in October 2024 Joker Folie à Deux, Lady Gaga released a new album, Harlequin.
The music video clip of The Joker, the first song that opens the album, features the popstar wandering through the halls of the Louvre Museum (particularly in the Italian section), until she stops, enchanted, in front of the Monnalisa by Leonardo Da Vinci. At that point, she decides to emphasize the smile of the Gioconda. How? By tracing with lipstick, on the glass that protects the painting, a new “Joker-like” smirk. An act that recalls the protests and actions of many activists against climate change.
Joker Folie à Deux x Louvre | Lady Gaga, Mona Lisa
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga by George Miller is the steampunk prequel/spin-off of Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). The film features a painting with a visual language sharply opposed to the rest of the film: The Pre-Raphaelite canvas Hylas and the Nymphs (1896) by John William Waterhouse. The scene depicts several Naiads bathing among white water lilies. The nymphs attempt to seduce Hylas, squire and lover of Heracles in the poem The Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes.
The Chimera (2023)
Directed by Alice Rohrwacher, La Chimera has won numerous awards. The film is set in the 1980s, in the clandestine world of “tombaroli”, the illicit trafficking of archaeological artifacts. A young English archaeologist (Josh O’Connor) has a supernatural ability. He manages to pinpoint the exact spot where ancient treasures are hidden. The climax of the film coincides with the discovery of a sanctuary of an Etruscan deity. Inside, the sculpture of the goddess of animals stands out. Her features were imagined by Fabian Negrin. He also designed the poster with the tarot card of the Hanged Man. When an ancient tomb is desecrated, the frescoes change color. Furthermore, the protagonist observes the sky to interpret the flight of birds as the augurs did. “Spartaco” is hidden behind the criminal enterprise. The director’s sister, Alba Rohrwacher, plays this role. We recently appreciated her in the role of adult Lenù in My Brilliant Friend.
She has collaborated for many years with art magazines such as Artribune, XIBT Contemporary, ArtApp, Insideart and Espoarte, preferring contemporary art in its many facets and media drifts.
