FINAL PORTRAIT

MIFF Patron Geoffrey Rush shines as Alberto Giacometti in Stanley Tucci’s richly detailed and witty snapshot of several weeks the artist spent trying to paint author James Lord.

In 1964, celebrated Swiss sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti invited young American art critic James Lord to sit for a quick portrait in his Paris studio. But as the quick portrait drags into days, and then weeks, and Lord is forced to cancel flight after flight home to New York, the two men cultivate an odd bond halfway between friendship and frustration.

Adapting Lord’s acclaimed memoir of the occasion, Tucci’s first film behind the camera in 10 years finds him buoyantly depicting a master artist at work, and the begrudging but supportive patience of his admiring subject. Rush is magnetic and hilariously droll as the obsessively self-critical, perpetually cursing walking chaos of Giacometti, with Armie Hammer perfectly sangfroid opposite him as Lord. Also featuring Tony Shalhoub, Clémence Poésy and Sylvie Testud, Final Portrait is an affectionate, intimate and charismatic coda for a creative genius.

'Highly entertaining … a very amusing, astringent chamber piece of a movie ' – The Guardian

MIFF Patron Geoffrey Rush will be at both sessions to introduce the film and take part in a post-screening Q&A.

Presented by Sofitel Melbourne On Collins