Name for freelancer: Neil Sandell. Author: Neil Sandell. Producers: Neil Sandell, with Mira Burt-Wintonick, Cristal Duhaime, Sarah Geis. Director & Sound engineer: Neil Sandell. Sound designers: Neil Sandell & Mira Burt-Wintonick.

Synopsis

A man falls in love with a mysterious woman in an oil painting, his very own Mona Lisa. His wife says he has become obsessed with her. They found the painting at a flea market in France. Now it hangs in their living room, the afternoon light bathing it in a soft glow. The woman in the portrait is wearing pearls, leaning forward, smoking a cigarette. Her eyes follow him around the room. But who is she? Who painted her? The truth is unknown. This information vacuum invites those who gaze at her to invent their own stories about her.

It is said, we look at a painting to look at ourselves. So, what does the man see? His answer lies in the past.

He tells the story of their move from Canada to France. But it is a story with two versions - an uplifting one suitable for public consumption. There is also a darker version that reveals an uncomfortable truth about his reasons for leaving. He has avoided this reckoning with the past. But the woman in the painting has knocked him off his balance. She seems to demand an honest accounting.

"The Painting - Director's Cut" exposes the layers of truth we discover when we excavate our past, and the ones we reveal when we look at a work of art. It is presented as a memoir told in the first person.

English text (click)