After leaving the asylum, Vincent van Gogh settles in the home of Doctor Gachet, where he keeps painting amidst the torments of his failing mental health. He begins an affair with his host’s daughter, however, she soon realizes that he doesn’t love her and that his heart beats only for art.

Pialat is often considered Cassavetes’ brother in arms for envisioning dramatic cinema as founded in the irascible, unpredictable turmoil of life. A painter himself, this is an impressionistic, textured yet austere work—many films have been made about the genius of Van Gogh, but none better this.