Richard Crouse

“I don’t think they’ve invented a word for what Dali is,” says a friend of the famous Spanish surrealist painter in the new film “Daliland,” in select theatres and streaming on VOD. Indeed, he leaves behind a complicated legacy.

By the 1970s, Dali was probably the most famous living artist in the world.Treating life like one never ending carnival, he was as famous for the surrealism and symbolism in his work as he was for his celebrated up-turned moustache and public hijinks, like walking an anteater on a leash for the paparazzi.

This story begins in 1974 as the jejune James (Christopher Briney) becomes Dali’s (Ben Kingsley) assistant. The innocent, former art school student idolizes the painter, but, as he is thrust into the eccentric artist’s decadent lifestyle, he learns there is trouble in Daliland. “Sometimes It can be so hard being Dali,” says the artist.

Dali’s complex relationship with wife Gala (Barbara Sukowa) complicates both the artist’s professional and personal life. More about money than marriage, she is her husband’s mother figure and muse, but also siphons his bank accounts to fund the musical aspirations of her latest boyfriend, Jeff (Zachary Nachbar-Seckel), a singer best known for his starring role in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

As James becomes embedded in the sideshow that has become Dali’s life, he becomes aware of the fraud and backroom deals that keep the artist’s coffers stuffed with cash.

“Daliland” isn’t so much a biography of the artist, even though there are many biographical details on display, including flashbacks to his younger life where he is played by Ezra Miller. Instead, it is a portrait of a time, of the moment when fine art became commodified and artists became marketers as well as painters. As a personality, Dali was, arguably, more famous than his work, but it was his celebrity enabled him to charge more per painting, and, ultimately dupe people into buying fakes because of the demand for his name.

Director Mary Harron paints a vivid picture of the cult of celebrity, and the price Dali paid for the quest for fame. A once revered artist, he died famous, but with a tarnished legacy. His commitment to life as the greatest form of art—the parties, the publicity stunts, the hedonism, self-mythologizing, etc—overshadowed his true gift, his ability to create truly unique artistic works. Add to that, shady business deals and money generating scams, and you have a colorful story tinged with tragedy.

Kingsley embraces Dali’s larger-than-life, “you’re in the presence of genius,” side, but never simply plays the caricature. His performance centers the outlandish story with humanity, and as the character ages, empathy for the man behind the moustache.

“Daliland” features interesting work from Sukowa as the fiery Gala and Kingsley, but does a better job at essaying the decadence of this pivotal moment in art history than providing a complete portrait of its subject.