Tuesday 4th December

On a Czech train, ambling through the countryside between Dresden and Berlin. A beautiful sunny winter’s day. Nice German cheese roll for lunch. All is well. Well, almost. I had just travelled all the way to Dresden to interview a wonderful musician for my Chopin film and was just outside the hall, with all my gear, when the person rang me to cancel due to illness. Ah well, not to worry – I’ll get the interview another time and at least I got to see Dresden (with its impressively re-built old town) for the first time. In the snow too…can it really be almost December? A year since we did Leonardo Live? Over a year since we launched The Boy Mir – Ten years in Afghanistan? 9 months since I toured some cinemas in Australia and New Zealand… My daughter and I looked at each other in amazement at the weekend when we got the Christmas decorations out of the loft – ‘but we only just put them up there, Dad!’….Time does indeed fly…

Nadar, Edouard Manet, 1874

Most of my year has been extremely busy and extremely unpaid. A huge amount of investment and risk-taking at our expense. But, as always, as we try to choose only projects which interest us, it has been fascinating too. It’s no terrible hardship to be engaged in a highly detailed film on Chopin. Nor is it the end of the world to be looking deep into the life of Manet. Certainly it’s Manet that has been taking up our time over the past three months – and what a fascinating period it was in mid -19th century Paris. We’ve made films before about the impressionists but it’s great to be back in the library and in Paris revisiting the subject. As always, I am fascinated by the economic context of a period. Manet, for example, lived at a time of expanding demand in art, the growth of the gallery, the dealer, the critic. There was even a considerable demand for paintings that could be rented for social events (a party at home for example) and then you had the growth of regional museums (who thus wanted paintings to show). All of this (and more) created a world where the artist moved from even further from the nameless artisan to the world superstar.



Edouard Manet,
Le déjeuner sur l'herbe, 1862-63
Musee d'Orsay



Yesterday the Turner prize was won by Elizabeth Price for her video work. It’s not my cup of tea but at least the guy who works with faeces didn’t win nor the woman called Spartacus who entered a puppet show of the Jesus and Barabbas stories. I’ve never subscribed that art is anything that is called ‘art’ not anything that is in an ‘art gallery’. Maybe I’ve been spoilt by making so many films by what I would say are truly great artists – and that most certainly includes Manet. Of course the reaction to his submissions to the Paris salon elicited the same kind of response as mine to the Turner submissions. One critic said of Manet’s ‘Luncheon on the Grass’ ‘It’s best seen from a kilometre away’. And that was one of the polite comments. Maybe my kids, or their kids, will in a few decades time revere the Prices and Spartacus’ but I doubt it.

I feel the same about films – the endless desire for novelty and shock can often leave art, accuracy, morality trailing in its wake. When asked for lists of the greatest documentaries or indeed feature films generally of all time, I’d say most talk about films from decades ago. And most people’s favourite artists still include Manet, Van Gogh, Rembrandt and so on. In researching the works of Manet I’d been delighted to become acquainted, often for the first time, with works of great artistry. The film will be in the cinemas in March and I’m sure you’ll enjoy looking at the paintings we’ve included. The same goes for the ongoing film about Chopin – to be completed and first released in Australia next Christmas. What a treat to get to listen – carefully and not just as background music – to his wonderful creations. I’ll be spending time in Warsaw in April and can’t wait. Anyway, this lovely train is arriving at Berlin’s new(ish) main train station. It’s functional but there’s little artistry. I’ve a couple of hours free so maybe I’ll go for a quick walk around the western lakes…with Manet in my eyes and Chopin in my ears – and try to come up with some cunning schemes to pay for it all….