Screenwriting : Finished with one screenplay, on to another. by Paul Condon

Paul Condon

This is a really strong idea.

Monet returning to his garden every day to paint the same waterlilies already carries emotion in it. On the surface it’s simple, but underneath it’s about time passing, his body changing, his sight fading, and him still trying to hold onto something that keeps shifting.

“The Lilies of Giverny” fits perfectly. It feels calm, but there’s weight in it too, like memory sitting under the surface.

What makes this work is that it doesn’t need a big story. The repetition is the story. Him showing up, painting, reacting to light and weather and his own frustration. The small changes start to carry everything.

And it becomes even more powerful if the world outside keeps moving while he stays in his own quiet space, still trying to catch something that can’t really be held.

If you keep it simple and honest like that, it could be really moving.

That's the way to go! Woo!

A screenplay about Claude Monet painting his famous waterlilies near his home every day until their ultimate completion, and displaying to eager Paris gallerias is brilliance!.

Paul Condon That’s a beautiful idea Monet’s world already has such a strong visual and emotional texture to it.

What could make it even more compelling is focusing on the internal journey behind those paintings the obsession, discipline, and what he was going through personally while creating them.

The setting, the light, the repetition of painting the same subject… there’s something very cinematic in that.

“The Lilies of Giverny” is a great title as well.

Thank you all! Yes, since he painted outdoors, using an easel set up for him every day by his daughter, he only had 20-30 minutes under the same light he had used the day before and the day before, and so on; he never had that advantage of a lighted studio, as was his choice during his pastoral projects. This one, Waterlilies, proved to be an enormous undertaking, akin to that of Michaelanglo''s The Creation painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Both of them, sheer labors of love! Artists!

Your comment is beautifully written, Naomi! Have you ever read the book The Judgment of Paris?

Paul Condon I love Monet's work - and once went to see Giverny (with my parents). A good biopic of Monet is long overdue!