'Big Eyes' Review

7/10

PG-13, 106 minutes, 2014

It is perhaps fitting that Tim Burton, a director whose filmography defines kitsch, would choose to direct a biopic about a fellow artist from the 1960’s who helped make kitsch cool. Strange, then, that Big Eyes turns into what could be Tim Burton’s least kitschy film. This is not entirely a bad thing, as many of his recent directorial efforts were not as successful as his earlier pop-culture hits. However, by playing this one mostly straight, and less wacky, it loses some of that classic Burton feel that fans (myself included) have grown to love. That being said, one has to respect the man for branching out and trying his hand at something different, and coming up with mostly satisfying results.

Big Eyes is the crazy true story of artist Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) who became famous for her paintings of “doe-eyed” children, but not before her husband Walter (an evil-but-in-a-funny-way Christoph Waltz) takes credit for her paintings and forces her to keep producing them under his name. When the two first meet at a San Francisco art fair, he appears charming and even talented, presenting work that he claims to have painted himself. Margaret buys into his outward kindness and flattery, and the two are soon married. Not long after this, Margaret’s work catches the public eye when Walter is displaying their combined work, his being generally ignored. He then convinces his wife to put the paintings under his name since “women’s art isn’t taken seriously.” Confused and reluctant though she is, Margaret does what her husband says and the profits come rolling in. But despite her new-found prosperity, her life begins to feel like a cage, as she grows more and more uncomfortable lying to her friends, the press, and especially her daughter, Jane, whom she had from a previous marriage. She grows even more uncomfortable once she realizes just how sociopathic her husband really is.

Burton’s eye for visuals is on full display here, though in a more restrained manner than Edward Scissorhands or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He uses his tricks well to capture the period mood, and to convey Margaret’s inner turmoil about lying, which was often reflected in Margaret’s own paintings during her marriage to Walter. The most Burton-esque moment comes during a scene in the grocery store when Margaret begins seeing the customers and employees with big eyes like the ones in her paintings. The movie could have actually used more weird moments like this, especially towards the end when the film begins to drag a bit. But the final scene makes the drier parts worth it, when the court finally decides who the real artist is. While the trial seems outlandish and unbelievable, it just goes to show that truth can be stranger than fiction.

Faith plays an interesting role in this movie as well. Although there is a certain “try anything” attitude Margaret takes, which feels realistic for the decade, she comes off as a woman genuinely searching for what is good, and just never had anyone to show her the way. Experiencing intense guilt one day, she goes to a Catholic priest for confession, even though she was raised Methodist. (Not telling the priest the whole situation, he is unable to give her sound advice.) Later, she reads a pamphlet from Jehovah’s witnesses about the value of honesty, and has a conversion to their faith. (Again, true to the real story.) This conversion leads to her decision to come clean about who the real artist is. Rather than see this as a ‘make your own truth’ philosophy, I see it as a testament to universal truths, specifically honesty, that can be found in all faiths. All people are on different journeys, but real, lasting truth can always be found if you’re truly open to it. In Big Eyes, Margaret Keane discovers the value of honesty, and as a result, she is set free.