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Montparnasse 19

The Lovers of Montparnasse (Montparnasse 19)

Movie · 1958 · 15 people

Montparnasse 19 (French title Les Amants de Montparnasse) was made in 1958 in black and white as a biographical drama and a French-Italian co-production. It was shown in Britain as The Lovers of Montparnasse and in the US as Modigliani of Montparnasse. It follows the final year of the painter Amedeo Modigliani, who worked and died in abject poverty in Montparnasse, with Gérard Philipe in the title role.

The story is set in Paris in 1919. The Italian painter, misunderstood and unable to sell his canvases in his lifetime, drinks heavily and dies of tubercular meningitis at 35. Some of his best-known paintings portray his last two lovers, Beatrice Hastings and Jeanne Hébuterne. Besides Philipe, the cast includes Anouk Aimée, Lilli Palmer, Lino Ventura, Lila Kedrova, Gérard Séty, Lea Padovani and Judith Magre.

Max Ophüls began the project, but when he died his friend Jacques Becker took over and completed the shoot, and a dedication to Ophüls was added to the credits. Becker adapted Michel-Georges Michel's novel Les Montparnos with Henri Jeanson. Christian Matras shot it and Paul Misraki, born in Istanbul, wrote the music. Filming ran from August to October 1957 and the film opened on 4 April 1958. Modigliani's life was filmed again in 2004, by Mick Davis, with Andy Garcia.

DirectorJacques Becker, Max Ophüls

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Cast

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Judith Magre Judith Magre Actor · 99 years old Harry-Max Harry-Max Actor · died at 77 Gérard Philipe Lilli Palmer Lea Padovani Lino Ventura Anouk Aimée Lila Kedrova Arlette Poirier Antoine Tudal Bruno Balp Denise Vernac Gérard Séty Jacques Ferrière Jean Lanier

Titles sharing this cast

Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

The film's most interesting story is behind the camera: Max Ophüls began the project and, after his death, his friend Jacques Becker completed it, adding a dedication to Ophüls in the credits. A film conceived by one master and finished by another is a study in itself for anyone who wants to trace where two styles meet and where they part. Christian Matras's black-and-white photography is a fitting choice for framing the poverty of Modigliani's last year without embellishment. On the other hand, drink, illness and the genius unrecognised in his lifetime form the best-known template of artist biopics; in my view the film lingers too close to that template and never makes Modigliani's painting as compelling a subject as his suffering.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The film is set in Montparnasse in 1919, just after the First World War, so it is a portrait not only of a painter but of an artists' quarter producing work in poverty. The death at thirty-five of a misunderstood Italian painter who could not sell his canvases in his lifetime raises the question of when, and by whom, an artist's worth is decided. The story of an artist who comes from another country and struggles to hold on in the big city still feels familiar today. That Modigliani's life was filmed again in 2004 shows the question keeps drawing interest.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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