For the documentary “My Rembrandt,” the director Oeke Hoogendijk assembles an assortment of Rembrandt homeowners and consultants whose pursuits within the Dutch grasp have, for various causes, taken on faintly obsessive dimensions.
The Duke of Buccleuch in Scotland speaks of the topic of “Previous Girl Studying” (1655) as if she had been alive (“she is probably the most highly effective presence on this home”) and strives to seek out the best viewing angle and lighting for the portray in a brand new room. The billionaire investor Thomas S. Kaplan, who has to pause when tallying what number of Rembrandts he owns, remembers kissing one as quickly as he had the authorized proper to take action.
There’s no query that Six has a pointy eye (the Rembrandt skilled Ernst van de Wetering finally indicators off on the invention), however what’s extra suggestive is his conviction that the portray is an “in-your-face” Rembrandt. Might anybody be so positive? May an artwork seller with this bloodline be primed to see Rembrandt in every single place? However Hoogendijk largely appears to take her topics at face worth. Whereas “My Rembrandt” poses heady questions concerning the distinction between acquisitiveness and appreciation, it largely performs like a straight art-world documentary that itself would have benefited from a extra vertiginous, obsessive method.
My Rembrandt
Not rated. In English, Dutch and French, with subtitles. Operating time: 1 hour 37 minutes. Watch through Film Forum’s Virtual Cinema.
