Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress, and the Tangerine and Levain Bakery

Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress, and the Tangerine (and Ruby et Violette bakery)

Now at Film Forum

In tandem with the current Guggenheim retrospective, Film Forum on Houston presents a powerful documentary about the French sculptor, painter, and installation artist.  Bourgeois, a fierce, firecracker Frenchie is a fascinating subject material for such an expose.  Her work cries out for explanation and this film provides several unique perspectives: culturally, socially, and critically.  The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine, though not an Oscar contender (too small perhaps), is a model for what documentaries should be.  The subject is explored thoughtfully and unapologetically (she is, as we learn, a somewhat difficult and particular woman) with rare moments of performance.  There is a visual component other than talking heads (her art, situated in international museums and built in her studio).  There is sort of a mystery (her psychological unraveling, the dark undercurrents of her tortured work) and there are obstacles (being a female in a male-saturated art world, a perfectionist in a disordered society).  We see that we are both watching something real and something really well-done, composed and deliberate.  At times, like the key tangerine scene, even visceral.  

Though inconvenient to both museum and movie theatre, Ruby et Violette bakery on 50th prepares some excellent artisanal cookies.  For the Personage in your life.