Big Eyes (2014) directed by Tim Burton
The final film in our series is Big Eyes, which portrays the story of the painter Margaret Keane, who passed away a few months ago at the age of 94. This film is the most conventional of the three films. The film has no talking heads to comment on the action. It does not have multiple perspectives, nor does it comment on itself.
That is not to say that it without its quirks. To begin with, the subject matter is unusual. Instead of choosing a critically acclaimed master (like Van Gogh, Jackson Pollack, or Frieda Kahlo -- all subjects of films), Burton has chosen a critically reviled painter. And yet Keane's struggle to express her inner emotional life through art is no less meaningful than those of the greats. If anything, the fact that Keane's struggle results in canvases of exquisite bad taste only enhances the meaningfulness of that struggle.
As with most, if not all, of his films, Tim Burton deftly mixes a range of tones, from comedy to pathos to horror. This film shares some themes with our previous films. All three films portray a relationship between dominant and passive personalities. All three portray characters with thwarted artistic ambitions. And of course, all through are in some way about the search for the truth.