Big Eyes! - Movie Review

The movie Big Eyes was released in December of 2014.  Hubs and I watched it in the spring of 2015 from Netflix.  It was directed by Tim Burton and starred Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz.  I highly recommend the movie.  I found it fascinating!  

The movie is based on the true story of artist Margaret Keane and her husband Walter.  Margaret started painting pictures of children with large, dark eyes before she ever knew Walter.  After she left her first husband, she met Walter at a sidewalk art event where they were both displaying their work. They had a short and intense romance and got married rather quickly.  After that, he displayed some of her art with his, and at first, because of a mis-step in communication, a customer thought he had painted the big-eyed child, and he let the person think that.  As the big-eyed paintings started to become popular, and the assumption that he was the artist continued, he started lying to people that he was the artist.  Meanwhile, Margaret kept painting.  She wasn't happy about his lying to people, but she let it continue because the paintings were selling, and she didn't have the self-esteem to stand up for her rights.  The money started rolling in and the paintings became HUGELY popular.  She kept painting and he kept taking the credit.  Eventually, the truth came out, and she stood up for herself, but I am not going to give away the details of the ending.

Here is a photo of actress Amy Adams with the real Margaret Keane:

Here is Margaret Keane with some of her work:

The movie is set in the '50s and '60s, and that was one of the things I enjoyed about it.  The "period" aspect was done very well with costumes, hair styles, home decor, street scenes, etc...

I was also fascinated with the issue of a woman being taken advantage of - and allowing herself to be - and then how that finally turned around.   Watching her give in to her husband's pressure was maddening at times. I even yelled "NOOOO!!!!" at the TV once when I'd had enough!  

From what I've read, there were some small changes from true story to movie script, but over-all, the movie Big Eyes appears to have a high level of accuracy.  

Walter Keane died in 2000, but Margaret is still alive and well in California where she has her own art gallery.  

I really don't remember specifically seeing the art work of the large-eyed children during my childhood in the '60s, but I do recognize the style as being "of the '60s world".  I always associated them in the same category of the art world as paintings on velvet for some reason, but I'm not sure where that association comes from.  

If you've seen the movie, I'd love to hear your thoughts!  This movie is a 2-thumbs-up for me!

Thanks for reading!  Come back again soon!

:)Amy