The Moderns

R

Released May 27, 1988

2 hr. 6 min.

Drama

List

81%

21 Reviews

Tomatometer

62%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

In the Roaring Twenties, aspiring painter Nick Hart (Keith Carradine), a U.S. expat who has decamped to Paris, tries to scrape together a living. He has a talent for reproductions but his own work is not selling well, so he takes a job forging famous paintings for rich art patron Nathalie de Ville (Geraldine Chaplin). However, things get awkward when Hart's ex-wife, Rachel (Linda Fiorentino), shows up with her new husband, Bertram Stone (John Lone), who attempts to buy the counterfeits.

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Audience Member

Great movie love the movie Beautiful movie My favorite

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/06/20

Full Review

Audience Member

Cliche-ridden, wooden, infinitely pretensious, like most of Rudolph's films

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The film acts as a kind of beta for Midnight in Paris, minus the fun of time-travel and magical realism. What remains is a story about an art forger called Nick Hart, however I can't help but feel that the writers should have called him Joe Blow. He provides so little engagement that the audience is left pining after the lost potential of a story involving Gertrude Stein, Hemingway and the like. Ultimately it is a love letter addressed to the 20s that is more about the author than the subject.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Love, love, love this movie. Sly, sexy, smart, clever, and thrillingly creative. One of the ten best of the 80s.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is probably one of the most artful, compelling, satisfying films I've ever seen. I first saw it 24 years ago and again last night. If anything, it holds up more powerfully and proves that good filmmaking is not only timeless, its something to be cherished and held as an amulet for others to follow. Bravo to Alan Rudolph and the entire production crew and cast for making one of the most memorable films of two Centuries.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Pretty badly acted & directed, but oddly enjoyable.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

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Alan Rudolph

Director

Keith Carradine

Nick Hart

Linda Fiorentino

Rachel Stone

John Lone

Bertram Stone

Wallace Shawn

Oiseau

Geneviève Bujold

Libby Valentin

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Richard Brody

New Yorker

The movie's disparate elements are unified less by the plot than by Rudolph's distinctive, rhapsodic style, with its sinuous long takes and archly elusive performances.

Apr 30, 2018

Full Review

Vincent Canby

New York Times

A movie that makes an afternoon with Gertrude and Alice more boring than a faculty tea.

Rated: 1/5

Aug 4, 2003

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

It takes place at that enchanted moment in Paris when the Lost Generation created itself and then proceeded to create, promote, fabricate and publicize modern literature, art, music and attitudes.

Rated: 3/4

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

A kind of aberrant fascination. [Full review in Spanish]

Jun 22, 2022

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Clearly flawed but definitely worthwhile, and it almost serves as a test run for Rudolph's other (and superior) film about intellectuals in the 1920s, 1994's Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle.

Rated: 2.5/4

Oct 6, 2021

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

A high-minded, sometimes amusing attempt to examine the potent ex-pat community of 1920s Paris.

Rated: 3/5

Oct 10, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

In the Roaring Twenties, aspiring painter Nick Hart (Keith Carradine), a U.S. expat who has decamped to Paris, tries to scrape together a living. He has a talent for reproductions but his own work is not selling well, so he takes a job forging famous paintings for rich art patron Nathalie de Ville (Geraldine Chaplin). However, things get awkward when Hart's ex-wife, Rachel (Linda Fiorentino), shows up with her new husband, Bertram Stone (John Lone), who attempts to buy the counterfeits.

Director: Alan Rudolph
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 27, 1988, Original
Release Date (DVD): Sep 17, 2002
Box Office (Gross USA): $20.3K
Sound Mix: Surround