The Moderns

Director-screenwriter Alan Rudolph turns his eye on 1926 Paris for this elegant, wry film. Keith Carradine and Linda Fiorentino star as Nick and Rachel, former lovers who reunite amid the artist-packed cafes and salons. He's a painter hanging out with pals Ernest Hemingway (Kevin J. O'Connor) and gossip Oiseu (Wallace Shawn). She's an alcoholic trapped in a loveless marriage to bullying businessman and art collector Bertram Stone (John Lone). As he and Rachel yell, drink, and fall back in love, Nick also finds himself in a scheme to forge some classic works by Cezanne, Modigliani, and Matisse, leading to incredible complications when Rachel's husband buys them. Freely working with a cast that mixes real and fictitious characters, Rudolph finds a lot to say about art, love, commerce, and the birth of modernity. Lush photography and fine performances, particularly those of Lone, O'Connor, and Geneviève Bujold as Nick's art dealer, make this a fond and loving artistic tribute to a time that still reverberates today with its unheralded creative impact.