Moss & Freud: Movie Review

Cast: Ellie Bamber, Derek Jacobi, Jasmine Blackborow
Director: James Lucas

The story of Kate Moss' notorious 2002 nude painting is brought to light and life in a film executive produced by the hedonistic fashion model herself.

Set over a nine-month period that Kate sat for acclaimed painter Lucian Freud (Derek Jacobi, occasionally spiky, but mostly avuncular), this movie from British-New Zealand filmmaker James Lucas tries to get to the heart of what attracted the pair and what led to an unlikely friendship.

Beginning with scenes of Moss seemingly about to crash while driving wildly down a country road during the middle of a night, it depicts the notoriously guarded fashion model at a crossroads in life. Approached by Bella Freud (Blackborow) with an offer of a painting, Moss gradually decides to give in to the idea, even if it requires months of commitment.

Lucas' film is the kind of gentle, genial take on a mentor/subject relationship and it's less interested in real depth of the characters, preferring instead to paint them in broad strokes.

From montages of Moss at fashion shows and parties to moments which capture the hedonism of a Britain engulfed in Britpop and a wave of cultural jingoism, the film does well to set the scene. And to be fair to Bamber, who was heavily mentored by Moss prior to filming to help capture the character, she turns in a very solid performance as the lost-at-sea model who's looking for her own sense of self.

But Moss & Freud, while offering a distraction for some 90 minutes, never really feels like it's interested in doing anything other than gifting its subject a redemption arc. With comments from Freud about how she never settles down, it depicts the relationship as one which sees her guided through some big life changes, while gifting her moments to declare her hard-work ethos.

The final result seems to neuter both of the spiky characters and ironically flattens them to portraits, rather than the fully fleshed passionate individuals they clearly were.