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A Bigger Splash

Play trailer Poster for A Bigger Splash 1974 1h 41m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 11 Reviews 44% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
When David Hockney's beautiful lover, Peter Schlesinger, breaks up with him, it leaves David a complete emotional wreck. An artist, he suddenly finds himself unable to create anything, and is awash in depression and loneliness. After a time, David is able to find inspiration in his backyard swimming pool, and he begins a portrait of it. This unique docudrama presents a semi-fictionalized account of the story behind one of Hockney's most popular paintings.
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A Bigger Splash

Critics Reviews

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Peter Rainer FilmWeek (LAist) 10/02/2019
It's an interesting movie for David Hockney completists. Go to Full Review
Robert Abele Los Angeles Times 07/18/2019
"A Bigger Splash" remains one of the more uniquely hypnotic movies about the connection between presented life and pulsating art. Go to Full Review
Glenn Kenny RogerEbert.com 06/21/2019
4/4
This unusual and sometimes unsettling film is a kind of staged documentary that could not have been made without the cooperation of people who were going though genuine challenges in their life at the time. Go to Full Review
David Holland Gay Community News (Boston) 09/13/2022
It is, for those who delight in peeking into the lives of the chic art-world, a monumental work. Go to Full Review
Jason Adams My New Plaid Pants 07/02/2021
We watch his canvas brought to motion before us, rippling pool tops and splashing bare asses in the sun - the paintings surround us, the sense of Hockney's being surrounds us Go to Full Review
Justine Smith Hyperallergic 02/26/2020
It is a film that seems to externalize David Hockney's erotic imagination and the anxiety that comes with it. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Jens B 06/29/2024 I never felt closer to experiencing what it is like being an artist. The creation scenes feel are profound. Art and reality dissolve into each other. A perfect (and unexpectedly sexy) summer movie! See more 07/21/2019 No plot and nonsensical dialogue. See more 05/31/2016 Seemed like it had potential, but it just dragged on and the story line was predictable and expected. Very disappointed, but Ralph had a solid performance despite. Still don't see this. Ever. See more 01/23/2014 what a strange thing this was to find. verite with surrealist digressions. Hockney is interesting and insightful, unsurprisingly. even amid all the staged silence and introverted posing. definitely worth seeing if interested in the artwork and the beautiful portraits of London and New York in the early 70s. (including interiors and underground night life) See more 04/16/2011 There can't be many people who are familiar with the friends and colleagues who surrounded David Hockney in the early '70s when this film was shot. (Perhaps there is a decent bio of the artist.) I chose the film based on a casual interest in Hockney as a well-known gay artist. And it's certainly informative about Hockney's process and it's very strong showing the real-world influences, the people and places, that make their way into his art. And, one more plus, it's very homoerotic. On the downside it tends toward the opaque in terms of what & who it chooses to show at any given time & it's painfully fragmented. It's a goofy movie but I think an honest one. See more 07/07/2009 Basically a cinematic homage to the painter David Hockney. See more Read all reviews
A Bigger Splash

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Movie Info

Synopsis When David Hockney's beautiful lover, Peter Schlesinger, breaks up with him, it leaves David a complete emotional wreck. An artist, he suddenly finds himself unable to create anything, and is awash in depression and loneliness. After a time, David is able to find inspiration in his backyard swimming pool, and he begins a portrait of it. This unique docudrama presents a semi-fictionalized account of the story behind one of Hockney's most popular paintings.
Director
Jack Hazan
Producer
Jack Hazan, Mike Kaplan
Screenwriter
Jack Hazan, David Mingay
Distributor
New Line Cinema, Direct Cinema Limited
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 3, 1974, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Jun 21, 2019
Release Date (Streaming)
Jul 26, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA)
$44.3K
Runtime
1h 41m
Sound Mix
Mono
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