"The Goldfinch" film was theatrically released in the United States and Canada on September 13, 2019. It is the film adaptation of Donna Tartt’s globally acclaimed bestseller of the same name, which won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and spent more than 30 weeks on The New York Times Best Sellers list. Theodore "Theo" Decker (Ansel Elgort) was 13 years old when his mother was killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He survived and received from a mysterious man in the rubble a rare picture of Carel Fabritius, that changes the course of his life, sending him on a stirring odyssey of grief and guilt, reinvention and redemption, and even love.
The "Goldfinch", a great novel by American author Donna Tartt about the adventures of a young man named Theo and Carel Fabritius’s masterpiece, is the bestseller of 2013. From the very beginning of this massive book, a reader understands that this is an outstanding book that captivates, forces to sympathize with the main character.
The novel "Goldfinch" consists of 760 pages. Fans still underestimate why it was decided to make a film, not series. But the director of the film, John Crowley (whose recent film, Brooklyn, had three Oscar nominations), says that film adaptation focuses only on two periods of Teo’s life, the events develop non-linearly, and the plot moves "impressionistly."
Finn Wolfhard, Sarah Paulson, Luke Wilson, Jeffrey Wright, Ashleigh Cummings, Denis O’Hare, and Aneurin Barnard co-star, and Oscar nominee Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) wrote the screenplay. One of Hollywood’s most respected cinematographers Roger Deakins also worked on "The Goldfinch".
It stars Oakes Fegley as a young Theodore (Theo), who survived after the tragic tie. The film also stars Oakes Fegley, Aneurin Barnard, Finn Wolfhard, Sarah Paulson, Luke Wilson, Jeffrey Wright, and Nicole Kidman in supporting roles.
The author Donna Tartt.
ERNESTO RUSCIO/GETTY IMAGES
ERNESTO RUSCIO/GETTY IMAGES
The mystery drama, which cost $40 million to produce, stars Ansel Elgort as Theo, a young man who turns to art forgery after losing his mother in a freak tragedy. A protagonist seeming to learn major life lessons from wise supporting figures. A secret that eats away at the lead over many years.
In July 2014, film rights to the novel were sold to Warner Bros. Pictures and RatPac Entertainment with ICM Partners brokering the deal. Two years later, John Crowley was hired to direct the film adaptation. In August 2017, Warner Bros. finalized a deal with Amazon Studios to co-finance the adaptation, where Amazon would invest in more than a third of the project’s budget and obtain streaming rights to the picture on its Prime service, while Warner Bros. would distribute the film in theaters worldwide.
The movie was made on location in New York, New Mexico and Amsterdam.
The movie was made on location in New York, New Mexico and Amsterdam.
Carel Fabritius’s painting The Goldfinch (1654) belongs to the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague. When it was last shown outside the Netherlands at the Frick Collection in New York in 2014, it was seen by a record breaking 200,000 people.
In the 17th century, goldfinches were popular pets because they could be trained to draw water from a bowl with a miniature bucket. The Dutch title of the painting pertains to the bird’s nickname puttertje, which refers to this custom and translates literally as 'little weller'.
The small canvas, measuring 34×23cm, as painted without major corrections, with only minor ones to the contours of the bird. It is perhaps best known to a wider audience as the cover of the novel of the same name by Donna Tartt. This book was partly responsible for record exhibition attendance at the Frick Collection in New York.
The small canvas, measuring 34×23cm, as painted without major corrections, with only minor ones to the contours of the bird. It is perhaps best known to a wider audience as the cover of the novel of the same name by Donna Tartt. This book was partly responsible for record exhibition attendance at the Frick Collection in New York.
The artist Carel Fabritius (1622−1654) lived only 32 years — he died in the explosion of a powder warehouse in Delft. Probably, his work died in the fire along with the artist. Nowadays, art historians have a total of 16 works that can be attributed to Fabritius (and the most rigorous at all — only 13). Fabricius is considered a pupil of Rembrandt and a master who had a great influence on Vermeer.
Hera taking refuge during a battle between gods and giants
1643, 77×67 cm
And one more first-class work of Fabricius — "The Apparition of the Hagel Angel" - was shown last year in Moscow and St. Petersburg during a tour of the Leiden Collection.
Hagar and the angel
1645, 157.5×136 cm
"The Goldfinch" was skewered by critics after it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 5, 2019. And for today other reviews are not good — high-profile adaptation of book branded the film "disappointing", "bland" and "a gigantic waste of time"
But film will be released in the UK on 27 September and in Australia on October 17, so it’s only beggining. And we hope that Goldfinch will spread its wings and help the box office sales to increase. Good luck, bird!
Based on the materials from Warner Bros. official site, The Independent, usatoday.com