With this enthralling and beautifully mannered labour-of-love of a film from writer/director Stanley Tucci, Geoffrey Rush plays artist Alberto Giacometti and Armie Hammer plays James Lord, his young American biographer who endured endless sittings in hope of a portrait.

This great comedy/drama is based on art critic James Lord's memoir of how Giacometti invited him to sit for him to Paris in 1964, only to find his portrait sitting, that the wonderfully flighty Giacometti said would last a few hours at most, extending into days and weeks. Flattered by the attention, Lord is forced to cancel and rearrange a series of flights back home as Giacometti is distracted by outburts about money, ruminations on art and death, and the regular appearances of his muse and lover Caroline (Clémence Poésy).

So begins a story that isn't only about a touching and offbeat friendship, but a revealing insight into the beauty, frustration, profundity and, at times, downright chaos of the artistic process.

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