Klimt

Raoúl Ruiz transports us to the year 1918, when Gustav Klimt is on his deathbed. Egon Schiele, the only person granted access, draws his friend and mentor. Klimt's feverish visions take him back to the Austrian pavilion at the 1900 Paris World Exhibition, where he is awarded the gold medal for his work “Philosophy”. In Paris, he also encounters the film magician Méliès, the mysterious dancer Cléo de Mérode and the “Secretary of State”, a fatherly, oppressive figure who will accompany Klimt like a shadow throughout the film. Raoúl Ruiz conveys the artist's life in an extraordinary, visually and musically magnificent cinematic allegory. This film is a virtuoso homage to an exceptional artist against the historical backdrop of the fin de siècle.