Film Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

The Adventures of Picasso...And a Thousand Loving Lies
Directed by Tage Danielsson
New Star Entertainment 1980 DVD/VHS Feature Film
Not Rated

The Adventures of Picasso...And a Thousand Loving Lies is without doubt the best comedy of the season. It is a sophisticated, clever, ingenious Swedish film directed by Tage Danielsson. Using Picasso's adage "Art is a lie which reveals reality" as a frame, the movie is an imaginative and phantasmagorical look at the life and works of the world's most famous and successful artist. The movie employs the entire repertoire of comedy's tricks and treasures — mime, slapstick, satire, farce, cartoon, one-liners, etc.

Screenplay writers Hans Alfredson and Tage Danielsson lovingly poke fun at Picasso's early training, family life, political vision, erotic urges, aesthetic breakthroughs, patrons and critics, integrity and commercialism. Gosta Ekman does a marvelous job dreaming himself into Picasso's career, and Hans Alfredson is funny as his omnipresent father. The Adventures of Picasso…And a Thousand Loving Lies is worth seeing twice in order to savor all the comic nuances, the literary and artistic references, and its nimble footed flights of fancy.

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat