At Eternity's Gate

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for At Eternity's Gate
• a review of At Eternity's Gate completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 19 February 2019.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

At Eternity’s Gate is a biographical drama about the life of Vincent van Gogh. Vincent (Willem Dafoe) has moved to Paris (1886) to continue his love of painting. There he meets Paul Guaguin (Oscar Isaac) and the two become close friends who share their disdain of the current impressionist art forms. Two years later, Vincent moves to Arles where he paints some of his most famous work such as the Sunflowers and the Wheatfields. All of his life, Vincent suffers from mental illness, psychosis, and depression and is often delusional. He is disliked by the people of Arles and frequently attacked by the local villagers, including children. When Guaguin returns to Paris, Vincent suffers a breakdown and cuts off part of his ear to give to Guaguin.

Vincent spends a lot of his life in and out of mental asylums and he dies by a gunshot to the stomach. The film depicts this as him being shot by young boys, but there is speculation that it was suicide. Vincent was never successful during his lifetime and he lived a life of poverty, supported financially by his younger brother Theo (Rupert Friend) who traded in art.

Mental Illness; suicide.

There is some violence in this movie including:

• A group of school children approach Vincent while he is painting. One of the boys goes to touch the painting and Vincent reacts badly, grabbing the boy and pulling him away. The children all scream and run away.
• Several children throw rocks at Vincent. Vincent grabs one of the boys and is then attacked himself by a group of men.
• Vincent meets a woman along the road that he wants to paint. She agrees but when she can’t get into the position Vincent wants, he gets annoyed and starts physically manipulating her body, at which she gets frightened and runs away.
• Boys are playing with guns, which they shoot at Vincent. One of them then grabs his painting from the easel and throws it into the river.

Material that may scare or disturb children

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• Vincent is often seen in mental asylums with other patients who look quite mad. He looks gaunt and quite lost.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• Vincent wanders through the mental asylum in a strait jacket. Several of the patients look quite mad.
• Vincent is shown dead in a coffin.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

• Vincent tells Theo that he thinks he’s losing his mind. Villagers say he screams in the street and puts black paint on his face to scare the children. He says he has visions and that he thinks maybe he could kill someone in that state or throw himself off a cliff. Vincent cries in Theo’s arms.
• Vincent is seen with a bandage around his head talking to a doctor, Vincent tells him how upset he was when Guaguin left and that he cut off his ear (not shown). He says he wanted to give it to Paul to say sorry. He says there was blood everywhere. The doctor tells Vincent he drinks too much and is hysterical. He shows him the bloody piece of paper he wrapped his ear in with the words ‘remember me’ on the front.
• Vincent is shown enclosed in a wooden bath with only his head showing. There are two other men in baths. One of them is heavily tattooed and talks about his time in the army and how he saw people being mutilated, tortured and raped. He talks about being suicidal. The third man keeps repeating the same word over and over. Eventually the other man tells him to shut up repeatedly.
• When Vincent is shot, he stumbles along holding his stomach. Then, in the hospital, the doctor asks him if he shot himself to which Vincent replies ‘don’t blame anyone’.

Some children in this age group could be disturbed by the above-mentioned scenes.

Product placement

• None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• Vincent asks a woman to stay with him for 50 francs.
• A man in the bath talks about seeing women being raped.

Nudity and sexual activity

• None noted.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• Vincent drinks a lot although he has little money.
• Many of the characters smoke pipes.
• Drinking at pubs, bars, etc.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• The occasional use of the word, "bastard".

In a nutshell

At Eternity’s Gate is a biopic of the life of Vincent van Gogh. Unfortunately it is shot entirely with a hand-held camera to give it a sense of ‘cinéma vérité’, which also promotes motion sickness. Some of the photography and scenery is quite beautiful, however, and most of the dark aspects of the movie are spoken rather than shown. Dafoe is brilliant as the tortured artist and the movie will appeal to older teens and adults, but due to its content and the themes explored is not recommended for children under 13.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Support and friendship.
• Understanding of people who are different

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as.

• Why were the villagers so mean to Vincent? Was it due to fearing what they didn’t understand?
• Are there different attitudes towards mental illness in society today? Has anything changed?