From the young Ensor, brilliant artist, rebel and relatively unknown, to the esteemed Baron Ensor, who only painted scenes in which he plagiarized himself, Luc de Heusch provides an interpretation of a man and an oeuvre. A Sunday musician, out-and-out misogynist, talented utterer of curses, lover of the mermaid, seller of beach souvenirs, he left dazzling drawings and major 20th century paintings. At the centre of the film is the creative impotence he experienced halfway through his life. The setting is Ostend, queen of beaches, the city that he never wanted to leave, and the North Sea, beautifully photographed. A film on art which provides outstanding answers to the following questions: how to film a scene, how to find a dramatic structure, how to avoid narratives being too educational. The scenes are shot in full screen: the film imposes its format of continuity and narration on the museological ‘framework’.
