The Picasso Summer (1969)

This film has quite an odd little history. Directed by Serge Bourguignon (best known for directing the Oscar winning SUNDAYS AND CYBELE), this film was never released theatrically in the U.S. Indeed, I'm not sure it was released theatrically anywhere. Based on a story by Ray Bradbury who co-wrote the screenplay, Warners saw no commercial potential and the film went directly to TV where, cut from the director's original vision, Bourguignon and Bradbury's names were replaced by pseudonyms. It's a daring experimental film with the slightest of narratives. A dissatisfied architect (Albert Finney) and his wife (Yvette Mimieux) leave San Francisco for France where they plan to seek out Pablo Picasso who the architect admires. What's unique about the film is how animation is used to bring Picasso's work to life (something I'm not sure Picasso would be all that happy with) for lengthy periods of time to comment on situations in the film. For example, there's a marvelous sequence that begins with Finney and Mimieux making love then dissolves into a montage of living Picasso-esque drawings that approximate their lovemaking. The film is not entirely successful but one has to admire the audacity of the attempt in an age of cookie cutter film making. There is a repugnant sequence involving bullfighting that stops the movie dead. All accompanied by a stunning score by Michel Legrand, one of his very best. Bourguignon never directed another film again.