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French director Maurice Pialat takes an unromantic, unapologetic view of the last two months in the life of famous painter Vincent Van Gogh. While other cinematic depictions of the tragic end of Van Gogh's life have emphasized his mental instability or offered various psychological theories for his suicidal impulses, Pialat's drama is matter-of-fact. Jacques Dutronc shows the artist to be a witty, fatalistic genius. It's an antidote to the excessive melodrama of portrayals such as the classic Hollywood treatment in 1956's Lust for Life, but it will not satisfy those viewers who want easy answers. Pialat is a veteran French filmmaker known for his realism; as in many of Pialat's films, the character portrayal here is more important than the plot.