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The story picks up with Vincent (Kirk Douglas) as a young adult. He is unable to find a station in life, and is supported by a monthly allowance from his brother Theo (James Donald), an art dealer.
Vincent becomes a painter and moves to France, where his work is influenced by impressionist artists, particularly brusque Paul Gauguin (Anthony Quinn). Mental illness plagues Vincent, leading to various setbacks and an early death. But the paintings lived on, as they were duly sent to Theo, a de facto collateral in return for his loans. One wonders how much money Theo's widow ever received for them.
How others will see it. At imdb.com, the user ratings are fairly high, and rise with increasing age. Some will undoubtedly be bored with the film's slow pace. A theme throughout the movie is that Vincent's incessant earnest chatter eventually alienates those around him, possibly including the viewer. It helps that Van Gogh's intensely colorful paintings, or plausible copies of the same, are scattered throughout the sets and scenes. Many of these paintings are so famous that even casual art fans will recognize them.
It has to be said that Lust for Life has one of the most misleading posters every put out by MGM. The poster implies that Kirk Douglas' co-star is a hot, naked brunette, possibly even Elizabeth Taylor. Instead we get manly man Anthony Quinn, and wimpy man James Donald. MGM marketing to the contrary, this movie has no hot women. Sorry.
How I felt about it. Lust for Life brings out the cynic in me. Did Van Gogh really die with his devoted brother at his bedside? Did he really cut his ear off because he was about to lose his rude painter roommate? Was he really such a phenomenal artist, or is he famous because of his nutcase antics?
But in fact, Theo was at his brother's deathbed. It does seem that a row between Gauguin and Van Gogh had something to do with the "ear" incident. While none of his paintings approached the quality of, for example, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Van Gogh had talent and originality, and his influence is immense.
To the film's credit, it never claims that Van Gogh was an outstanding painter. Indeed, the limited career success late in his life occurs after his infamous "ear" self-mutilation. One wonders whether Toulouse-Lautrec and other dropped names took an interest in Van Gogh's paintings as curiosities. What garish things would he create next?
Where the film goes awry is in its presentation of the Van Gogh brothers as naive men with pure souls. Perhaps the Production Code had much to do with this. In reality, Vincent took his hacked-off earlobe to a prostitute, and Theo died of syphilis. One suspects that there was more to Vincent than mere half-mad passion, but that is all you will find here.