You may not know her name, but I would wager that you might recognize her work and, at the very least, know some of the wild, incredible story that is her life. Margaret Keane, the painter of the waif-like children with large, expressive eyes, passed away on June 26th at the age of 94. If you don’t know this artist’s life story, I am including links to articles that will help get you caught up on the scandal and the redemption of a woman artist who was nearly erased from art history. Thankfully, that will never happen now that her story has been told on the silver screen.

In 2014, the Tim Burton-directed film Big Eyes was released and it serves as a relatively well-told biopic of the artist Margaret Keane. Acting duties were entrusted to Amy Adams in the role of Margaret and Christoph Waltz is cast as Walter Keane, Margaret’s husband who takes credit for painting all of the the “big eyes.”

I’ll admit that I was reluctant to watch the film as I was concerned that it would be too Tim Burton-esque. While his directing style and signature aesthetic has become iconic in the American cinematic tradition, I was worried that adhering to his trademark techniques (and, let’s admit, a few tropes) would distract from the already almost unbelievable story.

Thankfully, that was not at all the case with this film and I highly recommend giving it a watch. In addition to the powerful story and exceptional acting by our two leads, pay attention to the use of color. Burton uses color as eye-catching bursts to enliven a street or night scene and in other instances uses over-saturated colors to make the scenic backgrounds feel like paintings. Plus, Burton’s use of harsh lighting emphasizes the play of light versus dark, enhancing the more ominous or harrowing scenes between Margaret and Walter.

You can learn more about Margaret Keane and the film Big Eyes by watching this video from 2014…

The film is currently streaming on Netflix and if you decide to watch it, I would like to hear what you think!