Alex Barbier said goodbye to comic books with his final work, La Dernière Bande. He has since devoted himself entirely to painting. This film might well have been called The Last Canvas, for it now appears, in hindsight, like a testament. Over the course of a few days, it captures both the step-by-step creation of this final painting, completed with sheer physical effort and the rituals that shaped its execution, as well as the artist’s reflections on his painting, his past work, and his life. It also reveals a striking play of mirrors between the creator, whether painter or filmmaker, and his subject.
