Picassos Äventyr / The Adventures of Picasso / Die Abenteuer des Herrn Picasso

“Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth”. That famous quote from Picasso opens this slapstick comedy, which perpetuates the lie that picture frames are pliable. A young Picasso makes a sculpture from mashed potatoes, leading him to Madrid’s art school and, from there, directly to the art mecca of Paris, where the man in the Breton stripes begins his amazing career … The authors called their zany biopic “a silent film without silence”; it features ten languages, all spoken in a way that anyone can easily understand them. The film uses absurd sight gags and songs to spoof not only art history, but also political events and figures from the 20th century such as World War I, prohibition, and Adolf Hitler. It was shot in the Swedish town of Tomelilla, with matte paintings transforming the main street into Paris, London, and New York. The Picassos in the film were done by animated filmmaker Per Åhlin (“The Journey to Melonia”, NFL 1990).