Oh, a decade or so back I watched a film directed by and starring Jody Foster called Little Man Tate (1991). It was the story of Fred Tate, an intellect packed into an eight year old and his working mother Dede, as well as the director of a program for gifted children, Dr. Jane Grierson.
It explored that inevitable tension between Fred’s intellectual, emotional, and social needs juxtaposed between the complicated interplay of him and his powerful awareness with his mother and teacher, Dr. Grierson.
The mother, Dede, portrayed by Miss Foster is a working mom trying to bring up her son Fred. It is discovered that Fred is a genius whereby she becomes determined to see that he has all the opportunities that he needs and is not taken advantage of by people who forget that his extremely powerful intellect is that with the emotions and physique of a child.
There are many moments of complicated interpersonal relations throughout this movie and the most memorable parts for me involve Fred and his penchant for the art of Van Gogh …
“Hello, Fred. I’m Jane Grierson. Do you know why you’re here?”
(Fred Nods)
“How do you feel about it?”
“I’m hot.”
“Dominum. Domino.”
“Now, Fred. What’s wrong in this picture?”
“This?”
“This? – I wake up in his paintings sometimes.”
“Van Gogh.”
“I wonder why he only painted one iris white.”
“Because he was lonely.”
“Let’s look at May.”
“I like Sunflowers best.”
Excerpt:
Little Man Tate
By Scott Frank
Directed by Jody Foster
Vincent Willem van Gogh
March 30, 1853 – July 29, 1890
Dutch post-Impressionist artist of vivid colors with emotional impact that influenced 20th century painters. He suffered from depression, anxiety, and increasingly frequent episodes of mental illness throughout his life, dying unknown by and large at the age of 37 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.
On 27 July 1890 he walked into a field and shot himself with a revolver. Surviving the initial impact; he didn’t realize that he had given himself a mortal wound. He walked to the Ravoux Inn where he died there two days later.
His brother, Theo rushed to be at his side and later reported his brother’s last words as “La tristesse durera toujours” (the sadness will last forever).
