Big eyes true story. Big eyes. The Mysterious Case of Margaret Keane. Biography of Margaret Keane

Today, the characters in her paintings - big-eyed, seemingly alien children - are known and loved by many. From the outside, the life of the 90-year-old artist today seems idyllic, but it all started far from rosy.

Her paintings - but not herself - were a huge success in the 1960s. Then Margaret Keane worked sixteen hours a day behind curtained windows in complete isolation from the outside world - while her husband, who did not have any knowledge, took credit for the authorship. artistic talent, but was an extraordinary businessman and a cunning manipulator.

The deception was revealed in court in 1986, at which the artist not only declared her rights to these works, but was also able to prove her authorship by drawing a big-eyed baby right in the courtroom.

After the trials of the year, the public was divided into two camps: some accused Margaret Keane of weakness and childishness, others admired her courage and dedication. And to this day, the question of what prompted a talented, healthy young woman to unquestioningly obey her husband for many years and agree to voluntary seclusion remains open.

Charming Walter

Margaret met her future husband, Walter Keene, on art exhibition in San Francisco. According to her in my own words, Walter literally radiated charm. And how much work was required to charm a lonely woman with a small child in her arms? At this time, Margaret was desperately trying to earn at least some money, fearing that her ex-husband would take her daughter away from her. Walter, although he did not have the talent of an artist, undoubtedly had others no less important qualities- he was an excellent marketer. A plan quickly matured in his mind on how to monetize Margaret's talent. Therefore, having decided not to miss such a profitable match, Walter, without thinking twice, married an aspiring artist.

With his wife's permission, he began selling her paintings near the entrance to one of the clubs in San Francisco. Portraits of children with exaggeratedly large, naive eyes attracted the interest of people passing by, who wanted to buy them. Followed by stunning success Even her husband could not have foreseen Margaret's paintings. The peak of popularity occurred in the first half of the 1960s, at that time the originals of the artist’s creations were sold with lightning speed for fabulous sums. For those who could not afford to purchase the original, Walter found a much less expensive alternative - every kiosk began selling reproductions of his wife’s paintings in the form greeting cards, calendars and posters that sold millions of copies. Moreover, Margaret’s enterprising husband used not only paper media - big-eyed babies were even depicted on kitchen aprons.

Margaret did not immediately learn that her husband was putting his signature under her portraits. And when she finally figured it out and demanded that everything be corrected immediately, she received a furious rebuff from him. Walter told his disheartened wife that everything had gone too far and if he now admitted to the forgery, then for the rest of their days they would have to sue the indignant buyers of her paintings, demanding their money back. What finally convinced Margaret to remain silent was his argument that society would never take a woman seriously in the arts.

"Tearful folk art"

Timid and insecure Margaret, who had felt lonely and unhappy since childhood, was easy for the imperious Walter, who reveled in undeserved fame, to keep in complete obedience. Convincing her that she did not know how to behave in society, Walter forbade his wife to appear at social events, and if, nevertheless, sometimes for the sake of decency she had to attend them, he suppressed all his wife’s attempts to start a conversation with any of the guests . He also imagined his wife as his apprentice, mixing paints for him. Margaret transferred all her pain and loneliness to the canvases: the children and women depicted on them with sad eyes the size of a saucer reflected her deep inner experiences. In her work, she painfully searched for answers to questions: why there is so much evil in the world, why loved ones bring so much grief.

Like any artist truly passionate about the work she loves, Margaret was more concerned not with how much income her works brought in - at that time Walter was making millions of dollars from them, without giving his wife a dime - but with the reaction they evoked from viewers . Unfortunately, not everyone admired the sad characters in Margaret Keane’s paintings; there were also ardent opponents of her work. Among them is the American Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan, who called them “whiny folk art“, as well as leading American art critic, author and art historian John Kenaday, who tore Margaret’s work “Tomorrow Forever” to smithereens in his article in The New York Times. Keen worked day and night on this painting, depicting an endless column of children of different nationalities stretching to the very horizon. As a result, the “tasteless daub”—that’s the unflattering description an art critic gave to the artist’s work—was removed from the wall in the education pavilion on international exhibition Expo in 1964 in New York.

From big money and fame from Walter Keene literally his mind became clouded - later psychiatrists diagnosed him with severe mental disorder. Threatening to kill Margaret and her daughter, he forced his wife to paint more and more canvases, dictating to her what should be painted on them. Their house in San Francisco was filled with slutty girls who didn’t give a damn about Margaret, preferring not to notice her at all. At times she came across them in the marital bedroom, then she had to go to work in the basement. This humiliating situation completely exhausted her. Having gathered her strength, she and her daughter moved to live in Hawaii. Having settled next to the picturesque Hawaiian beach of Waikiki, located in the Honolulu area on the south coast of the island of Oahu, for the first time in long years found peace of mind. But Walter was not going to leave her alone in this paradise: Margaret still continued to write and send him paintings.

"A Couple of Sweet Demons"

The religious organization Jehovah's Witnesses helped her finally break off relations with her tyrant husband, which instilled in the woman confidence in own strength. The spiritually strengthened Margaret married sports writer Dan McGuire, and she told him about her misadventures. Supported by her husband and members of a religious organization, Keane went on local radio, where she publicly announced who the real author of the paintings with big eyes was. Her performance had the effect of a bomb exploding. “A couple of sweet demons” - this is how journalists dubbed the Keene couple, behind whose sentimental pictures, in their opinion, greedy and vile people were hiding. But Margaret, in her opinion own confession, never wanted to sue ex-husband money, she just wanted to stop deceiving people. By the way, she never received the four million dollars awarded to her from him, since Walter Keene still cash, earned from the sale of her paintings, was squandered at fashionable resorts. Despite this, Margaret, according to her, does not feel anger towards him, but on the contrary, considers herself to blame for everything that happened to them.

« Big eyes»

The half-face-length eyes of the zombie-like girl Sally in the animated film “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, the disproportionately huge glasses of the eccentric confectioner Willy Wonks in the fantasy film “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” - it’s easy to see that in many of the works of the American film director Tim Walter Burton there is a connection with the works of Margaret Keane. Oddly enough, the eccentric Hollywood producer, famous for films full of black humor, is crazy about the artist’s big-eyed works. In addition, Burton has the most extensive collection of them.

Friendship with the artist and sincere interest in her work prompted Tim Burton to make the film “Big Eyes,” which so plausibly tells about family drama the Keanes, that Margaret could not watch it without tears. According to the artist, she was most impressed by the performance of Austrian actor Christoph Waltz, who played the role of Walter Keene in the film. He not only looked like him, but also masterfully adopted his manner of speaking, habits and arrogant behavior. After watching “Big Eyes,” the elderly woman took two days to come to her senses; it was especially difficult for her to watch the performance of Amy Lou Adams, who embodied her on the screen. After a while, Margaret, as she says, managed to free herself from the memories that had washed over her, and she began to perceive this film as fantastic. By the way, in one of the frames you can see two Margarets - the young one is diligently drawing at an easel, and the older one is sitting on a bench with a book in her hands.

Madcap filmmaker Tim Burton loves to introduce macabre elements into his films, such as the dancing skeletons in the animated film Corpse Bride. Quiet Family Film"Big Eyes" was no exception. In one of the episodes, the main character begins to hallucinate - she begins to see all the people with huge eyes in the store. It looks, to put it mildly, creepy.

This year Margaret Keane will turn 91 years old, despite her advanced age, she continues to paint. Only children don’t cry at them anymore. On one of her canvases - “Love Changes the World” - the artist depicted how her work changed after breaking up with Walter: on the left side of the work there are kids with sad, despairing eyes, on the right - laughing boys and girls who are literally glowing with happiness .

In the early 1960s, few people knew about the American artist Margaret Keane, but her husband Walter Keane was basking in the waves of success. At that time, it was his authorship that was attributed to sentimental portraits of sad children with eyes like saucers, which probably became one of the best-selling art objects in the world. Western world. You can love them or call them mediocre bastards, but undoubtedly they have carved out their niche in American pop culture. Over time, of course, it was discovered that the big-eyed children were actually drawn by Walter Keane's wife, Margaret, who worked in virtual slavery to support her husband's success. Her story formed the basis of the new biographical film directed by Tim Burton, Big Eyes.

It all started in Berlin in 1946. A young American named Walter Keene came to Europe to learn the craft of an artist. During that difficult time, he more than once watched the unfortunate big-eyed children fiercely fighting for the remains of food found in the garbage. He would later write: “As if driven by deep despair, I sketched these dirty, ragged little victims of war with their bruises, tortured minds and bodies, matted hair and sniffling noses. This is where my life as an artist began in earnest.”

Fifteen years later, Keane has become an art world sensation. America's single-story suburbs were just beginning to expand, and millions of people suddenly had a ton of empty wall space that needed to be filled. Those who wanted to decorate their homes with optimistic fantasies chose paintings of dogs playing poker. But most liked something more melancholic. And they preferred Walter's sad, big-eyed children. Some of the children in the paintings were holding poodles with the same huge and sad eyes. Others sat alone flower meadows. Sometimes they were dressed like harlequins or ballerinas. And they all seemed so innocent and seeking.

Walter himself was not at all melancholic by nature. According to his biographers, Adam Parfrey and Cletus Nelson, he was always not averse to drinking and loved women and himself. Here, for example, is how Walter describes his first meeting with Margaret in his memoirs, Keen's World, published in 1983: “I like your pictures,” she told me. - You greatest artist whom I have met in my life. The kids at your work are so sad. It hurts me to look at them. The sadness you portray on the children’s faces is so vivid that I want to touch them.” “No,” I replied, “never touch my paintings.” This imagined conversation likely took place at an outdoor art exhibition in San Francisco in 1955. Walter was still there then unknown artist. He would not have become a phenomenon in the next few years if not for this acquaintance. That evening, according to his memoirs, Margaret told him: “You are the best lover in the world.” And soon they got married.

As for Margaret herself, her memories of their first meeting are completely different. But it's true, Walter was all charm and completely smitten her at that exhibition in 1955. The first two years of their marriage flew by happily and cloudlessly, but then everything changed dramatically. The center of Walter's universe in the mid-1950s was the beatnik club The Hungry i in San Francisco. While comedians like Lenny Bruce and Bill Cosby performed on stage, Keene sold his paintings of big-eyed children out front. One evening Margaret decided to go to the club with him. Walter ordered her to sit away in the corner, while he animatedly talked with customers, showing off the paintings. And then one of the visitors approached Margaret and asked: “Do you also draw?” She was very surprised and was suddenly struck by a terrible guess: “Is he really passing off her work as his own?” And so it turned out. He told his patrons three boxes of lies. And she painted pictures with big-eyed children, and every single one of them was Margaret. Walter may have seen enough of sad, exhausted children in post-war Berlin, but he certainly didn’t draw them, simply because he didn’t know how. Margaret was furious. When the couple returned home, she demanded that this deception be stopped immediately. But in the end nothing happened. Over the next decade, Margaret remained silent and nodded in respectful admiration when Walter exclaimed to reporters that since El Greco he best artist, depicting eyes. What happened between the spouses? Why did she agree to this? That fateful evening upon returning from Hungry i, Walter declared: “We need money. People are more willing to buy a painting if they think they are communicating directly with the artist. They wouldn't like to know that I can't draw, and all this is my wife's art. And now it's too late. Since everyone is sure that it’s me who draws the big eyes, and then we suddenly say that it’s you, it will confuse everyone, and they’ll start suing us.” He offered his wife an elementary method of solving the problem: “Teach me to draw big-eyed children.” And she tried, but it turned out to be an impossible task. Walter couldn't do anything, and in his irritation he blamed his wife for teaching him poorly. Margaret felt trapped. Of course, she was thinking about leaving her husband, but she was afraid that she would end up without a livelihood with her little daughter in her arms. Therefore, Margaret decided not to muddy the waters, but to quietly go with the flow.

By the early 1960s, prints and postcards of Keane's drawings were selling millions. Almost every store had sales counters from which huge eyes looked out at customers. Stars such as Natalie Wood, Joan Crawford, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and Kim Novak bought original works. Margaret herself did not see the money. She was just drawing. Although, by that time the family had moved to spacious house with swimming pool, gate and servants. Therefore, she did not have to worry about anything, all she had to do was draw. And Walter enjoyed the glory and delights social life. “There were almost always three or four people swimming naked in our pool,” he boastfully recalls in his memoirs. - Everyone slept with each other. Sometimes I went to bed, and there were three girls already waiting for me in bed.” Participants visited Walter The group The Beach Boys, Maurice Chevalier and Howard Keel, but Margaret rarely saw any celebrities because she painted 16 hours a day. According to her, even the servants did not know how everything really was, because the door to her studio was always locked and curtains hung on the windows. When Walter was not at home, he called hourly, wanting to make sure that Margaret had not gone anywhere. It looked a lot like imprisonment. She had no friends, and she preferred not to know anything about her husband’s love affairs, and she no longer cared deeply about it. Walter, like a capricious customer, constantly put pressure on her to work more productively: either draw a child in a clown suit, or make two people on a rocking horse, and quickly. Margaret became something of an assembly line.

One day Walter came up with the idea of ​​a huge painting, his masterpiece, which would be displayed in the UN building or somewhere else. Margaret only had a month to work. This “masterpiece” was called “Tomorrow Forever.” It depicted hundreds of big-eyed children of different faiths with traditionally sad looks, standing in a column that stretched to the horizon. Organizers of the 1964 World's Fair in New York hung the painting in the Education Pavilion. Walter was very proud of this achievement. He was so inflated with his own importance that he told in his memoirs how his late grandmother told him in a dream: “Michelangelo offered to include you in our chosen circle, claiming that your masterpiece “Tomorrow Forever” will live forever in the hearts and people's minds, just like his work in the Sistine Chapel."

Art critic John Canaday probably did not see Michelangelo in his dream, because in his review of Tomorrow Is Forever in the New York Times, he wrote: “There are about a hundred children depicted in this tasteless potboiler, so it’s about a hundred times more worse than the average of all Keane's works." Stung by this response, the organizers of the World Exhibition hastened to remove the painting from the exhibition. “Walter was furious,” Margaret recalls. “It hurt me when they said nasty things about the paintings.” When people argued that it was nothing more than sentimental nonsense. Some couldn't even look at them without disgust. I don't know where this negative reaction comes from. After all, many people loved them! Small children and even babies liked them.” In the end, Margaret cut herself off from other people's opinions. “I’ll just draw what I want,” she told herself. Judging by the artist’s stories about her sad life, creative inspiration simply had nowhere to come from. She herself claims that these sad children were actually her deep feelings, which she could not express in any other way.

After ten years of marriage, eight of which were simply hell for the wife, the couple divorced. Margaret promised Walter that she would continue to paint for him. And for a while she kept her word. But having made two or three dozen paintings with big eyes, she suddenly became bolder, deciding to come out of the shadows. And in October 1970, Margaret told her story to a reporter news agency UPI. Walter immediately went on the attack, swearing that the big eyes were his work, and hurled insults liberally, calling Margaret a “sexually horny alcoholic and psychopath,” whom he said he once caught having sex with several parking lot workers at once. “He was really crazy,” Margaret recalls. “I couldn’t believe he hated me so much.”

Margaret became a Jehovah's Witness. She moved to Hawaii and began painting big-eyed children swimming in the azure sea with tropical fish. In these Hawaiian paintings you can see that cautious smiles began to appear on the children's faces. Future life Walter's life was not so happy. He moved to a fishing shack in La Jolla, California, and began drinking from morning to evening. He told several reporters who were still interested in her fate that Margaret had conspired with Jehovah's Witnesses to deceive him. One USA Today journalist published a story about Walter's plight, in which the ostensible artist claimed that his ex-wife said she painted some of his pictures because she thought he was already dead. Margaret sued Walter for libel. The judge demanded that both draw a child with big eyes, right there in the courtroom. It took Margaret 53 minutes to work. But Walter refused, complaining of shoulder pain. Of course Margaret won trial. She sued her ex-husband for $4 million, but didn’t see a penny of it because Walter drank it all away. A forensic psychologist diagnosed him mental condition called delusional disorder. This meant that Keane was not lying at all; he was sincerely convinced that he was the author of the paintings.

Walter died in 2000. IN last years he gave up alcohol. In his memoirs, Keene wrote that sobriety was his "new awakening away from the world of drinkers, sexy beauties, parties and art buyers." From which it is easy to conclude that he greatly missed those cheerful days.

By the 1970s, large eyes had fallen out of favor. Monotonous pictures with sad children eventually became boring to the public. The shameless Woody Allen made a point of ridiculing large eyes in his film Sleeper, where he depicted an absurd example of a future world in which they were revered.

And now a kind of renaissance has come. Tim Burton, who has several original works in his art collection, directed the biopic Big Eyes, starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. The film was released in 2014. The real Margaret Keane, now 89, even has a cameo in the film: a little old lady sitting on a park bench. Surely, after the premiere, the public's interest in paintings with big-eyed sad children will flare up again. Many representatives modern generation Until now we were not even familiar with this story. And, as usual, the public’s opinions about the works will be divided. Some will scornfully call the paintings sugary hackwork, while others will gladly hang one of the sad-eyed reproductions on the wall of their home.

This post was inspired by watching a Tim Burton movie. For those who are interested in this story, I advise you to watch the film Big Eyes.

After the release of the great Tim Burton's film Big Eyes, interest in the American artist of the second half of the 20th century Margaret Keane increased with renewed vigor.

Margaret Keane American artist, who gained fame and recognition for her depiction of hyperbolic large eyes and the legal dispute over the relativity of the authenticity of her work. Margaret's husband Walter Keene for a long time sold paintings created by Margaret, signing them with his name. Being a good advertiser and a skilled businessman, paintings with Big Eyes became so popular that the family managed to open their own gallery. At some point, Margaret got tired of the lies and the constant need to hide herself and her creativity. She divorces Walter and files a lawsuit claiming that all of Walter’s paintings created over ten years are her own. While considering the case in court, in order to determine the true author of Big Eyes, the judge invited everyone, within an hour, right there in the courtroom, to draw one work. Walter refused to paint, citing a sore shoulder. Margaret drew another Big Eyes in fifty-three minutes. The case was decided in favor of Margaret Keane, with compensation of four million dollars.

Stylistically, Margaret Keane's work can be divided into two stages. The first stage was the time when she lived with Walter and signed her works with his name. This stage is characterized by dark tones and sad faces. After Margaret escaped to Hawaii, joined the Witnesses of the Jehovah's Church and restored her name, the style of Margaret's works also changed. The pictures become lighter, the faces, albeit with Big eyes, become happy and peaceful.

January 25th, 2016 , 04:59 pm

The other day I watched Tim Burton’s film “Big Eyes” and was so captivated by the plot that I forgot about everything. The film tells about real events in the life of artist Margaret Keane, who for many years, intimidated by her second husband Walter Keane, hid the authorship of her paintings, which were sold under his name.

The tragedy of women in art

Walter Keene noticed a young girl whose paintings showed personality. He himself only dabbled in painting, drawing the streets of Paris (as it turned out later, simply using a brush and putting his signature under other people’s paintings). He made his living by selling houses. He had a real merchant's product. He could sell anything to anyone.

Along with his own works, he began to exhibit his wife’s works in local cafes, passing them off as his own. After all, she bore his last name, and therefore signed herself “Kin.” Having learned about her husband’s dishonesty, Margaret tried with tears in her eyes to explain to him how vile and dishonest it was on his part, but he convinced her that society was biased against “ladies’ art.”

For many years they managed to lead everyone by the nose, opening more and more successful exhibitions. Walter Keene developed the business of selling his wife's paintings in such a way that he sold not only the paintings themselves, but also their reproductions, posters and even postcards.

The woman remained in the shadow of her husband for many years, even trying to change her own style of painting, some of which she signed with her own name. Even incomplete, but only with the initials of the name, adding the surname of the spouse. She partly copied Modigliani's style, only on her canvases the portraits of women invariably had sad faces, reflecting the tragedy that the artist carried within herself for many years.

Only in 1964 did she have the courage to leave her husband, leaving with her daughter to live in Hawaii. It took another 6 years to tell people the truth. Walter defended his version of events to the end, even in court, where he refused to draw a portrait of a child with big eyes, inventing pain in his shoulder. Margaret painted the portrait, thereby proving her authorship of all the other works that had long been considered the property of her ex-husband.

This story once again proves that it is difficult for a woman to make her way everywhere, but this does not mean that you need to meekly accept your fate and silently endure humiliation. You need to defend your rights, even if you are afraid or intimidated, otherwise you risk losing your individuality and self-respect!

USA, dir. Tim Burton, starring: Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Terence Stamp, Jason Schwartzman, Krysten Ritter, Danny Huston.

In 1958, Margaret Ulbrich, having taken her daughter, left her first husband and moved to San Francisco, where she met Walter Keene, an artist, her main theme those who chose cozy Parisian quarters. Margaret herself also draws: she excels at children with exaggeratedly large eyes. The creators quickly get together, get married, Walter arranges their first joint exhibition - at which, not without surprise, he realizes that people are interested in “big eyes” much more than his streets...

The intro to the film promises incredible story, after which irritation from such a “statement” pulsates in my head for a long time: “Well, what could be incredible here?.. Well, another film about artists, you never know how many of them we’ve seen...” However, when the real plot comes into force, the eyes viewers are expanding more and more, gradually equating the audience who came to the cinema with the children drawn by Margaret Keane. So before reading this review, it is important to understand: do you want to know the main “trick” in advance - or be surprised directly during the session?.. In any case, remember that this all really happened - it’s difficult, but you have to believe it.

The fact is that the husband - somehow it happens naturally - passes off his wife’s work as his own. Motivating this by the fact that women's art not for sale, and besides, it’s not enough to draw - you need to be able to “move around in society,” and Margaret, by nature, is too modest to also perform “representative functions.” Thus begins a decade of grandiose deception, at the expense of others, turning Walter Keane into a global superstar.

Video for the film “Big Eyes” with the participation of artist Margaret Keane

The pseudo-author of “Big Eyes” places a decisive bet on the art of PR. Having enlisted the support of a local journalist, Walter presents “his” works to either the mayor or the ambassador at every opportunity. Soviet Union, then a visiting Hollywood celebrity. Despite the fact that critics flatly refuse to recognize Keane’s creations as something serious, dismissively calling them despicable kitsch, people like the amazing images of children. However, the paintings themselves are expensive - but everyone readily snaps up free posters; This is how the idea of ​​large-scale production of postcards, calendars and posters for sale was born. What is familiar now was a novelty half a century ago - and “eyes” are becoming a trend that defined the era.

The whole horror of the situation shown in the film lies in the fact that the world really had no idea about anything, but we initially see everything - and from the position of today we absolutely cannot understand how main character, and justify her timidity and confusion that lasted for years. This fearful indulgence turns out to be worse than the crime itself - and when asked why Margaret indulged the myth woven by her deceiving husband, to the modern viewer not so easy to answer. That’s how strong the conviction was in the women of that time, driven into their heads by family and religion, that a man is the center of their small universe, and therefore his decisions are undeniable, and his opinion is indisputable (and how can one not remember Fate, whose path in art also passed under complete control of the spouse!). And one can only smile bitterly at the fact that the heroine is brought to the light of truth by the Hawaiian Jehovah's Witnesses, towards whom we have a wary attitude, but it turns out that they can be useful too!..

The story of “Big Eyes” was adapted for film by screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, whose specialty is just such biopics, in which real twists of fate are a hundred times more incredible than any fiction. It is enough just to mention two films by Milos Forman - “The People vs. Larry Flynt” and “Man on the Moon”, and “Ed Wood”, the best, according to common sense, Tim Burton’s film. Taking hold of them new script, Burton, to some extent, acted as a conditional Walter Keene - because with this thing the co-authors were finally going to make their directorial debut, and the director who intervened, it turns out, took away all the well-deserved glory from them. How this happened is another question, but it is obvious that Scott and Larry again led Tim onto the right path, allowing him to take another and undoubted creative peak.

Here it should be noted that Tim Burton, of course, is a “head” - but a head that has long been working on self-repeat. With all the love for the master, one cannot help but admit that there is no pain in watching him latest movies Probably, either only children could (who made “Alice in Wonderland” a box office success), or completely unconditional fans (who recognized even the darkest “Sweeney Todd”). To be honest, I myself love Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but still like a real one, major artist Burton remained silent for more than ten years, as if something had broken in him after Big Fish, which became his deeply personal masterpiece.

Lana Del Rey's song from the movie "Big Eyes"

It’s all the more pleasant to see that a major and beloved director is again in excellent shape. Perhaps he should have long ago moved away from his trademark “stuff”, from black humor, from all kinds of freaks as heroes - and come to a similar story in which realism amazingly combined with phantasmagoria. What is most striking is that this “new Burton”, which suddenly changed its guidelines in such a radical manner, is very similar to the “old” one, whom we once, more than a quarter of a century ago, loved with all our hearts.

Of course, not only the writers, but also the actors greatly contributed to this “return”. Amy Adams once again proves herself to be one of the leading actresses of her generation, creating an authentic portrait of a woman who has never known freedom and, when pushed too far, can only reveal her secret to a poodle. But one should not be surprised that - in accordance with the plot - Christoph Waltz steals all the laurels from her, literally basking in the role he inherited.

Despite receiving two Oscars, Waltz still causes a certain distrust among many: they say that he was great at one image, after which it was only banally replicated. But Walter Keene is nothing like Hans Landa or Dr. Schultz! The actor first paints his new character as a charming hero-lover (and these are completely different colors!), step by step turning the swindler into the American analogue of Ostap Bender (after all, Walter also “dedicated” himself to starving children around the world). Final scene the trial with his participation turns into a hilarious attraction - and one must see how the accused acts as his own lawyer, running from place to place with questions!.. The successful solution of this role once again proves that to a good artist Often a special director is also required, who would allow him to discover previously invisible facets of his talent.

In conclusion, we note that amazing movie and ends surprisingly: Margaret Keane, it turns out, is alive and well, moreover, she is still painting. It turns out that all this happened quite recently, very close - and this bold dot makes our eyes even larger.

The film "Big Eyes" is released on January 8th in limited release; wide release will begin in a week.