At Eternity’s Gate: Julian Schnabel chose to follow a non-traditional road to tell the story of Vincent van Gogh; that manifests more notably with the way the film is shot by cinematographer Benoît Delhomme. The images are regularly fractured, out of focus, oddly framed, often with the subject facing the lens directly; it alternates between being beautiful, discomforting, interesting, but it results close to excessive and exhausting. Nevertheless, these aesthetic choices are a very good fit to the character, as he is portrayed, and his traits. Willem Dafoe gives a commanding performance as van Gogh: he handles the painting quite well, and resembles the subject, but more relevantly, is very convincing as the disturbed genius. Rupert Friend and Oscar Isaac are likewise solid as the sympathetic men close to the main character. All elements of production design contribute to give the context of his body of work.