Beauty and love, sex and intrigue, passion and glamour - these are the heady ingredients of Pantheon's feature drama  "Manet in Love."

"Manet in Love" captures the love affairs, the intrigue and controversy swirling around the reluctant leader of the French Impressionists, or the “Gang of the Batignolles” as they called themselves: Edouard Manet. Sophisticated, urbane, and a self-professed flaneur, Manet was an unlikely rebel; and as the film seeks to show, it was not until his love affair with a fellow artist, Berthe Morisot, that he embraced the plein-air light effects and daring color palette of Impressionism with all his heart. 

The screenplay, written by director Jean-Pierre Isbouts, is almost entirely based on the actual words of Manet, his lovers, his friends and critics, culled from countless letters, memoirs and other sources. As such it is perhaps the most authentic portrait of the great French artist ever brought to the screen.

In addition to Manet, played by Richard Neil, featured characters include his principal model Victorine Meurent, played by Shelley Phillips ("Trading Mom"); the painter Berthe Morisot, played by Broadway actress Alyssa Bresnahan ("A Streetcar Named Desire", "Macbeth"); and two of Manet's most intimate friends: Antoine Proust and Edmond Bazire, performed by Clement von Franckenstein ("The American President") and Gene Arnor ("Walnut Creek", "Fatal Instinct"), respectively. The role of young Manet is performed by A.J. Poulin ("The Brady Bunch Movie"), whereas Shakespeare actress Susan Kelejian is cast as Manet's wife, the Dutch piano player Suzanne Leenhoff.

Title:Manet in Love

Produced by: Pantheon Studios

Writer/Director: Jean-Pierre Isbouts

Producer: Catherine Labrador

Director of Photography:Peter Pilafian

Editor: Jean-Pierre Isbouts

Cast: Richard Neil (Manet); Alyssa Bresnahan

(Berthe); Shelley Philips (Victorine); Susan

Kelejian (Suzanne); Clement von Franckenstein

(Antoine Proust); Gene Arnor (Edmond Bazire)

Running length: 70:00

Available from Pantheon Studios and select

video distributors

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