The Moderns (1988)

Set in the 1926 Paris of the "lost generation", a struggling American artist (Keith Carradine) becomes involved in forging masterpieces for a wealthy woman (Geraldine Chaplin) and romantically involved with the wife (Linda Fiorentino) of a brutal and dangerous businessman (John Lone). Co-written and directed by Alan Rudolph (CHOOSE ME), the film coasts on its exquisite recreation of Paris in the 1920s. It's an art director's and costume designer's movie and the milieu is everything. Its rambling screenplay is borderline pretentious and Carradine and Fiorentino aren't strong enough actors to compensate for their uninteresting characters. As for Kevin O'Connor as Ernest Hemingway, I'm not sure which is worse. His godawful performance or the inane dialog he's been given. But three of the supporting actors manage to rise above the material and make their presence felt: Geraldine Chaplin, John Lone and Genevieve Bujold. With Wallace Shawn and Elsa Raven as Gertrude Stein.