The question is, if you make a 2 1/2 hour movie about a painting, do you also need to make a 100 minute documentary about it also?
The answer is yes. Peter Greenaway, one time painter, some time movie director, all round pretentious scholarly type does exactly that with "The Nightwatch", a painting by Rembrandt of a town militia, who may well have been involved in a conspiracy of murder.
The film which "J'accuse" is a companion to is Nightwatching, staring Martin Freeman as Rembrandt, and a talented supporting cast as the rest of his household and townsfolk.
J'accuse is not about the film, but about the painting. Using sequences from the film to illustrate the documentary, and Greenaway being granted interviews with the characters from the film to clarify some points of view.
J'accuse, like all analytical works, seem to harp on about apparent trivialities and make them significant points. This essay finds 34 features of the painting to critique, and casts them as "evidence" in a murder trial. It seems that everything is subject to analysis, but sometimes "a cigar is just a cigar". Despite that gripe I did enjoy the tenacious investigation and expose. Like all works of art, in the end it's just an interpretation, this one people seem to believe they know what they are looking for, and so they see it.
Like in "The Pillow Book" Greenaway does not constrain his documentary to one aspect ratio, he chooses the frame that suits his need, and in a way that the audience can just flow with it.
Nightwatching is a dramatic presentation of the painting of the picture. Rembrandt meets all the characters, with his prejudice biased by gossip and investigation into the murder of the former captain of the militia. It also shows how the accused and compromised usurp political pressure which crushes the great artists career. This documentary clarifies the innuendo in the drama. The two films are essential companions. It is the play and the Cliff Notes.
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