Big Eyes

Tim Burton tells the story of Margaret Keane, a painter who could not sign her own work. His familiar gothic register is missing; the strangeness is carried by colour, not design. Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel shot digitally for the first time, on the ARRI Alexa, and the team built a look up table for what he called the film’s hyper realistic look. The courtroom finish that plays like a screenwriter’s invention really happened. In 1986 a federal court in Honolulu told both Keanes to paint before the jury; Walter refused, saying his shoulder hurt, and Margaret finished a big eyed child in 53 minutes. The jury found Walter liable for defamation and awarded 4 million dollars; in 1990 the appeals court upheld liability and threw out the damages. The real question is not who painted them but why Margaret stayed quiet so long, and the film ties that to her move to Hawaii and her conversion to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, which pushed the real Keane to speak to UPI in 1970. Amy Adams won the Golden Globe for best actress in a musical or comedy. A good fit if you accept seeing more of the art market’s selling machinery than of the painting. Not for viewers who want Burton’s dark design world; here 1960s San Francisco gets a bright, flat colour.