Film review: Big Eyes

Tim Burton’s Big Eyes tells the story of the Keanes and presents us with a different sort of art and artist than we’re used to seeing in movies.

Big Eyes is based on a true story of art fraud, in which a husband, Walter Keane, for years took credit for his wife’s paintings. Amy Adams plays Margaret Keane in the movie. The Weinstein Company

Big Eyes

Director: Tim Burton

Stars: Christoph Waltz, Amy Adams, Jason Schwartzman, Terence Stamp Four stars

You have probably seen the portraits, even if you have no idea who painted them, of waifs with the huge, saucer-like eyes. You can see them in oil paintings, posters, postcards andmagnets.

In fact, for years nobody knew who really painted them.

That’s because Walter Keane, a showboating sociopath, claimed credit when his wife, Margaret, was the artist. It was an epic story of art fraud that ended with a dramatic 1986 trial during which Margaret proved her case by painting a doe-eyed child in front of the judge.

Tim Burton's Big Eyes tells the story of the Keanes. It is no surprise that Burton, whose own visually distinctive film art is popular yet treads an alternative path to most in Hollywood, presents us with a different sort of art and artist than we're used to seeing in movies.

Unlike, for example, Mike Leigh's Mr Turner (a biopic about the prolific landscape artist J M W Turner) this is not about the craft – this is about art as mass commerce. Art you can buy for a dollar.

As Christoph Waltz’s Walter says excitedly when he realises people will pay for cheaply produced posters: “They don’t care if they’re getting an original. They just want something they like.”

It would have been nice if Burton had explored that concept more deeply, but what he’s given us is still enjoyable and engaging. It’s a visually stunning (no surprise there) evocation of the San Francisco art scene in the 1960s and an absorbing portrait of a disturbing marriage.

The main drawback comes with the calibration of the two lead performances. As Margaret, Amy Adams gives a sensitive, wide-eyed (no pun intended) portrayal of a woman with low self-esteem, driven primarily by the desire to protect and support her daughter. It’s a necessarily restrained performance and Adams, as usual, is extremely moving.

As for Waltz, he is suitably creepy as Walter. But consistently, and too early, he takes the performance over the top, to the point where it seems like he’s appearing in a different, much zanier movie. It gets exhausting.

We meet Margaret in 1958 after she has left her first husband and is heading with her daughter to San Francisco’s culturally exciting North Beach.

She meets flirtatious Walter, who intoxicates her with stories of studying art in Paris. In a flash, they are married, but their work – he seems to specialise in generic Parisian street scenes – is ignored by snooty gallery owners. Walter hits on the idea of renting walls at a nightclub where Margaret’s waifs strike a chord with customers. But she makes the mistake of signing them “Keane” – and Walter convinces her nobody will buy “lady art”. So, he becomes the artist.

While Margaret slaves away, Walter markets the works aggressively. As the stakes rise, he becomes increasingly abusive and, after a harrowing encounter, Margaret escapes to Hawaii with her daughter.

There, she is finally inspired to step out of the shadows.

The 1986 trial, Keane vs. Keane, is a hugely satisfying final act – how could it not be? – as the judge gives each spouse an hour to produce a painting.

It’s no secret how that turns out. But it’s still a heck of a lot of fun to watch.

• Big Eyes opens in cinemas today