Charlotte (12)
Directed by Tahir Rana and Eric Warin

FOR those unfamiliar with the life or work of German-Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon, this vivid and poignant animated feature is a stunning introduction to her pioneering art and her masterpiece, considered by many to be the first ever graphic novel.

The film is inspired by her chef-d’oeuvre entitled Life? Or Theatre?, comprised of around a thousand paintings depicting her life and family, which she painted between 1941 and 1943 in a race against time during her stay in the south of France while in hiding from the Nazis.

This remarkable young woman was convinced she was on borrowed time and so embarked on this Herculean quest to leave her mark for posterity.

The 2D animation brings Charlotte’s expressionist work to marvellous relief in this captivating and gripping, yet heartbreakingly sad drama directed by Tahir Rana and Eric Warin which features an impressive A-list voice cast led by Keira Knightley as Charlotte (and also an executive producer) alongside Marion Cotillard, who voiced Charlotte in the French version.

It also includes Jim Broadbent, Brenda Blethyn and the late Helen McCrory in her last-ever film role.

Without going into graphic detail, the film conveys the growing horrors of life for Charlotte and her Jewish family in Berlin under the Third Reich as anti-semitic policies sparked violent mobs.

This convinced Charlotte’s father (Eddie Marsan) to send her to southern France to stay with her grandparents at the French villa of the wealthy American Ottilie Moore (Sophie Okonedo), where she also found love again. It is there that her abusive grandfather (Broadbent) informs her of the family’s darkest secret and their history of mental illness.

“Only by doing something mad do I hope to stay sane,” she tells her husband and fellow Jewish refugee Alexander Nagler (Sam Claflin) before going on a painting frenzy, convinced it was only a matter of time before she too succumbed to madness and death.

While Charlotte is a stark reminder of the evil depths of the Nazis, it also pays homage to the trailblazing artwork of Salomon, who was murdered at 26 while five months pregnant on the day she arrived at Auschwitz in October 1943.

It makes you ponder what other artistic wonders she would have produced, had she the chance.

In cinemas.