A frequent error people (me included) make in regard to biographic films is to take things too literally. We should keep in mind that a film is (or at least should be) a work of art by itself, therefore having its own message, views and means of expression.
Everybody is raging against this fine TV film because of its inaccuracies and one-sided take on a great director. But it's not all about him, as in 'Amadeus' it's not just about the real Mozart. During a second viewing of 'The Girl' it occurred to me that we need to see things under the surface: it's a parable about love, refusal, inner torments and mixed feelings, well, that kind of things. And that makes this film human, because a great artist is no saint and a beautiful woman is not always a perfect mother and/or performer ('professional').
Was everything in his motivation only about his ego, his unrequited love or sexual desire, or about his 'not aging gracefully' (if I may put it like that and not in Freudian terms)? And of course they didn't insist much on her own motivation: if he has been so abusive as a consequence of their love-hate relationship, why did she still continue to work with him? Just for the fame perspectives, for the money, or to prove him something? We don't really know it from the movie and this is just fine! Life is a mystery (so sings Madonna on my TV in 'Like A Prayer' exactly as I was starting to write it!). Talk about serendipity...
Being a Romanian, it was easy for me to recognize in this film, among the other aspects, a similarity with the Romanian myth of Manole the Craftsman, who had to sacrifice his beloved wife within the walls of the church he was building in order to make them stand. It's a well known East-European symbol of the need for sacrifice in art and I think it's not too far fetched a key for interpreting this film (which visually and acting-wise looks very good to me, by the way).
Everybody is raging against this fine TV film because of its inaccuracies and one-sided take on a great director. But it's not all about him, as in 'Amadeus' it's not just about the real Mozart. During a second viewing of 'The Girl' it occurred to me that we need to see things under the surface: it's a parable about love, refusal, inner torments and mixed feelings, well, that kind of things. And that makes this film human, because a great artist is no saint and a beautiful woman is not always a perfect mother and/or performer ('professional').
Was everything in his motivation only about his ego, his unrequited love or sexual desire, or about his 'not aging gracefully' (if I may put it like that and not in Freudian terms)? And of course they didn't insist much on her own motivation: if he has been so abusive as a consequence of their love-hate relationship, why did she still continue to work with him? Just for the fame perspectives, for the money, or to prove him something? We don't really know it from the movie and this is just fine! Life is a mystery (so sings Madonna on my TV in 'Like A Prayer' exactly as I was starting to write it!). Talk about serendipity...
Being a Romanian, it was easy for me to recognize in this film, among the other aspects, a similarity with the Romanian myth of Manole the Craftsman, who had to sacrifice his beloved wife within the walls of the church he was building in order to make them stand. It's a well known East-European symbol of the need for sacrifice in art and I think it's not too far fetched a key for interpreting this film (which visually and acting-wise looks very good to me, by the way).