Chichester Cinema at New Park
Séraphine
An absolute gem which won the audience award for best film in the 2009 Chichester Film Festival.
In 1914, Wilhelm Uhde, a famous German art collector, rents an apartment in the town of Senlis, forty kilometres away from Paris. The cleaning lady is a rather rough-and-ready forty-year-old woman who is the laughing stock of others.
One day, Wilhelm notices a small painting lying about in his landlady’s living room and is stunned to learn that the artist is no other than Séraphine de Senlis. She did not paint for money or fame, although she grew heady when they began to come her way.
She painted because she was instructed to by her guardian angel, and in this miraculous film we see her daily toil and nightly ecstasy where she would loudly sing in praise of the Holy Virgin. ‘Séraphine’ arrives from France as 2009's most honoured film, winner of seven Césars from the French Academy, including best film and best actress. The actress is Yolande Moreau, who combines a plain face with moments of beauty. An absolute gem. (subtitles)
France · 
Belgium · 2008 · Martin Provost · 126min
