Of Human Bondage (1934)

Leslie Howard plays artist Philip Carey

 Philip Carey

 Philip Carey and his art teacher who is telling him he has no talent as an artist

 A Philip Carey painting

Philip Carey gives up being an artist train to be a doctor, seen here in his apartment with fellow medical students who are admiring his paintings of naked ladies

Philip Carey falls in love with a waitress named Mildred Rogers, he draws her portrait whilst waiting in her cafe

 
A smitten Philip Carey admiring a photograph of Mildred Rogers with his painting of a naked lady on the wall behind his desk

Mildred Rogers destroying one of Philip Carey's paintings

Of Human Bondage (1934) in IMDB

Sensitive, club-footed artist Philip Carey is an Englishman who has been studying painting in Paris for four years. His art teacher tells him his work lacks talent, so he returns to London to become a medical doctor, but his moodiness and chronic self-doubt make it difficult for him to keep up in his schoolwork.

Philip falls passionately in love with vulgar tearoom waitress Mildred Rogers, even though she is disdainful of his club-foot and his obvious interest in her. Although he is attracted to the anemic and pale-faced woman, she is manipulative and cruel toward him when he asks her out. Her constant response to his romantic invitations is "I don't mind," an expression so uninterested that it infuriates him – which only causes her to use it all the more. His daydreams about her (her image appears over an illustration in his medical school anatomy textbook, and a skeleton in the classroom is transformed into Mildred) cause him to be distracted from his studies, and he fails his medical examinations.

When Philip proposes to her, Mildred declines, telling him she will be marrying a loutish salesman Emil Miller instead. The self-centered Mildred vindictively berates Philip with nasty insults for becoming romantically interested in her.

Philip begins to forget Mildred when he falls in love with Norah, an attractive and considerate romance writer working under a male pseudonym. She slowly cures him of his painful addiction to Mildred. But just when it appears that Philip is finding happiness, Mildred returns, pregnant and claiming that Emil has abandoned her.

Philip provides an apartment for her, arranges to take care of her financially, and breaks off his relationship with Norah. Norah and Philip admit how bondages exist between people (Philip was bound to Mildred, as Norah was to Philip, and as Mildred was to Miller).

Philip's intention is to marry Mildred after her child is born, but a bored and restless Mildred is an uninterested mother, and gives up the baby's care to a nurse.

At a dinner party celebrating their engagement, one of Philip's medical student friends, Harry Griffiths, flirts with Mildred, who somewhat reciprocates. After Philip confronts Mildred, she runs off with Griffiths for Paris. A second time, Philip again finds some comfort in his studies, and with Sally Athelny, the tender-hearted daughter of one of his elderly patients in a charity hospital. The Athelny family is caring and affectionate, and they take Philip into their home.

Once again, Mildred returns with her baby, this time expressing remorse for deserting him. Philip cannot resist rescuing her and helping her to recover from another failed relationship. Things take a turn for the worse when Mildred moves in, spitefully wrecks his apartment and destroys his paintings and books, and burns the securities and bonds he was given by an uncle to finance his tuition. Philip is forced to quit medical school, but before he leaves the institution, an operation corrects his club foot. The Athelnys take Philip in when he is unable to find work and is locked out of his flat, and he takes a job with Sally's father as a window dresser.

As time progresses, a letter is sent to Philip which informs him that his uncle has died, leaving a small inheritance. With the inheritance money, Philip is able to return to medical school and pass his examinations to become a qualified doctor.

Later, Philip meets up with Mildred, now sick, destitute, and working as a prostitute. Mildred's baby has died, and she has become distraught and sick with tuberculosis. Before he can visit her again, she dies in a hospital charity ward. With Mildred's death, Philip is finally freed of his obsession, and he makes plans to marry Sally.
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A Stolen Life (1946)

Bette Davis plays artist Kate Bosworth

A Stolen Life on IMDB

Kate Bosworth (played by Davis) is an artist who misses her boat to an island off New England, where she intends to meet her sister and uncle. She persuades Bill Emerson (played by Ford) to take her home in his boat, and they both fall in love. However, Kate's twin sister Patricia (also played by Davis) decides to fall in love with Bill also, and she succeeds in stealing him away.
Refusing to be happy for Patricia, Kate instead focuses on her work. Bill eventually goes to Chile, allowing Kate to spend some time with her sister. They go sailing, and Patricia is washed overboard and drowns. Kate is washed ashore, and, when she regains consciousness, she is mistaken for Patricia. Being told that Bill is about to return from Chile, Kate decides to assume her late sister's identity.
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Stay (2005)

Ryan Gosling plays artist Henry Letham

Stay on IMDB

The film opens with a car crash on Brooklyn Bridge, and introduces Henry Letham (Ryan Gosling), apparently a survivor of the crash, sitting next to a burning car on the bridge.
Psychiatrist Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) and his girlfriend Lila (Naomi Watts) are then introduced in a new scene. Sam discusses his patient, Henry, a college student and aspiring artist whom he describes as depressed and paranoid. Sometimes Henry hears voices, and he seems able to predict future events. Henry is also suspicious of Sam because he has suddenly replaced his normal psychiatrist, Beth Levy (Janeane Garofalo). Henry has told Sam that he will kill himself that Saturday at midnight, which Sam finds very troubling. Lila, an art teacher who has survived a past suicide attempt, offers to help to dissuade Henry from killing himself. But first they must find Henry.
Sam investigates Henry's circumstances in an effort to help. After repeatedly attempting to reach Dr. Levy, he comes to her apartment to find her disoriented and lethargic, mumbling incoherent phrases like "I didn't move him; I know you're not supposed to touch him." Henry claims to have killed both of his parents, but Sam finds that Henry's mother appears to be alive. Sam visits Henry's mother but finds her living in a bare house, confused about Sam's identity (she insists that he is Henry) and refuses to respond to her questions. Henry's mother insists on feeding Sam, but when she opens the fridge it is completely empty, and then her dog bites Sam.
At the clinic to have his arm bandaged, Sam discusses the visit with a police officer who is curious as to why he would visit that house. Sam reveals that she started to bleed from a head wound during his conversation with Henry's mother. The police officer tells him that the woman who lived there is dead. This seems to send Sam into a fugue in which the same scene is repeated several times.
Later Sam contacts a waitress named Athena (Elizabeth Reaser) with whom Henry had fallen in love. She is an aspiring actress and he meets her at a script reading where she is reading lines with another man. She agrees to take him to Henry, but after a long trip down winding staircases he loses her. When he gets back to the rehearsal room, she is there reading the same lines as when he first met her.
The search continues until 11:33 pm on Saturday, less than half an hour before Henry plans to kill himself. At a bookshop known to have been frequented by Henry, Sam finds a painting that Henry had painted and bartered for books about Henry's favorite artist. He learns that the artist had killed himself on Brooklyn Bridge, on his twenty-first birthday. Henry's twenty-first birthday is Sunday, and Sam realizes that Henry plans to commit suicide on Brooklyn Bridge in imitation of the artist.
Sam finds Henry on the Brooklyn Bridge in a physical atmosphere that is increasingly unraveling. Sam turns away as Henry puts the gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger.
The car crash of the first scene is then reprised. Henry was fatally wounded in the crash but, in his last moments, is suffering survivor guilt. Each of the characters introduced earlier in the film was in fact a random spectator at the site of the crash, including Sam, a doctor, and Lila, a nurse, who treat Henry in an attempt to save him. The brief remarks they make are the same ones heard previously by their dream-world counterparts earlier in the film. They fail to rescue Henry, and Henry dies, but not before seeing Lila as Athena and proposing to her, which Lila accepts out of sympathy.
The entire film up until Henry's death had existed in his mind, in his last moments (a plot device used most famously in the short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge). However, there are clues that the people surrounding Henry as he lay dying were actually drawn into another world in some way. For instance, after Henry dies and is being loaded into a body bag, Janeane Garofalo's character is heard telling her name to the police: Elizabeth Levy. Since Henry died before hearing this, he would have no way of knowing how to "dream" her true name. Additionally, before parting, Sam appears to get a flash in his mind of the experiences between him and Lila that Henry had constructed, and asks Lila out for coffee.
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El coleccionista de cadáveres aka Cauldron of Blood (1970)

Boris Karloff plays artist Franz Badulescu





Cauldron of Blood on IMDB

Boomerang (1992)

Halle Berry plays the artist Angela Lewis






Boomerang on IMDB

The film begins as Marcus Graham (Eddie Murphy) enters Chantress, the company that he works for as an advertisement executive. It is quickly established that he is quite the ladies' man, as he tells his assistant to send flowers to nine different women, with cards reading "only thinking of you." When he enters his office, Nelson (Geoffrey Holder), one of the creative minds also in Marcus' department, shows Marcus a re-cut he's done of one of the ads they've been working on. Marcus tells Nelson, who's very creative but also very risqué and overtly sexual with his style, that he must re-edit the ad, as some of the material may be offensive to women. Nelson reluctantly agrees, then leaves.
The next day, Marcus meets Lady Eloise (Eartha Kitt), the head of the company which will soon be acquiring Chantress in a business merger. She suggests that Marcus may be promoted to head of the marketing department, and invites him to her home for dinner that evening. Marcus realizes she intends to have her way with him, and thinking of the promotion, goes through with it and spends the night with her. The next day at work, he meets Jacqueline Broyer (Robin Givens), a beautiful woman who he realizes is going to be given the job he wanted, and will soon become his boss. At the party being held for the companies' merger, Marcus tells his friends Tyler (Martin Lawrence) and Gerard (David Alan Grier) he's thinking about resigning since he's not going to be promoted. While there, Jacqueline introduces him to Angela Lewis (Halle Berry), who works in the art department, and tells him the two of them should be working together. Also, everyone in the party is introduced to Strangé (Grace Jones), the wild fashion diva who's been chosen as the new face of Lady Eloise Cosmetics. While looking for Jacqueline, Marcus bumps into Angela, and when he spots Jacqueline, introduces Angela to Gerard so that he can go and catch up with her. When he attempts to woo Jacqueline, she tells him she doesn't date co-workers. Marcus however still believes he will be made the exception because of her flirtatious nature towards him.
Some time later at the office, Jacqueline tells Marcus they should go over some of their work together, and Marcus suggests they do it at his place over dinner, to which Jacqueline agrees. Marcus also finds out that Angela and Gerard will be going out that night. Both couples meet that evening, and ironically, Gerard, who's not as successful with women as Marcus, ends up having the better evening with Angela, while Jacqueline and Marcus eat dinner in front of the TV, which doesn't leave much time for the two to establish any sort of chemistry. Later, the two are sent on a business trip in New Orleans, and they eventually have sex while there.
Marcus, who assumes that he and Jacqueline are now a couple, is rather shocked to find that Jacqueline feels they should take it slowly, and isn't as enthusiastic about their relationship as he. While he feels he's falling in love, he doesn't understand how she can be so careless and inconsiderate about his feelings. After Marcus finds out that Jacqueline has told some of their personal business to Strangé, he tells her that the two of them should take a break for a while. Jacqueline gets the last word however, when she bluntly tells Marcus "it's over." Distraught about their breakup, Marcus' work ethic begins to lag, and after he ruins a major business proposal, Jacqueline decides rather than fire him, she'll give him a few weeks off work to get himself together.
During this time, Marcus begins to hang out with Angela, who tries to help bring him out of the funk he's in. On Thanksgiving, Marcus, Angela, Tyler, Gerard and his parents get together for dinner. While eating, Angela and Gerard tell his parents that they aren't a couple, when his father assumes that the two are. When everyone else leaves, Marcus and Angela clean up, and fall asleep on the couch together. When they wake up, the two begin to make out, and assumedly sleep together. While out with Gerard and Tyler, Marcus tells Gerard that he and Angela are going out together, which upsets Gerard, knowing Marcus' past with women.
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Spiral (2007)

Joel Moore plays artist Mason (as Joel David Moore)












Spiral on IMDB

A reclusive telemarketer and aspiring artist makes a friend, sketches a portrait of said friend, and has a massive mental breakdown.
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Tokyo Cowboy (1994)

Christianne Hirt plays artist Kate Beatty







Tokyo Cowboy on IMDB

A young Japanese man heads to Canada to meet his childhood penpal and to fulfill his dream of becoming a cowboy. In their letters as children she claimed to be a cowgirl, now she is grown up and an artist living with her sister.

The Caveman's Valentine (2001)

Colm Feore plays artist David Leppenraub






The Caveman's Valentine on IMDB

A former family man and pianist studying at Juilliard music school, Romulus Ledbetter (Samuel L. Jackson) is now suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and living in a cave in Inwood Park, New York. He believes that a man named Cornelius Gould Stuyvesant is controlling the world with rays from the top of the Chrysler Building, and that his mind is inhabited by moth-like angels. On Valentine’s Day he discovers the frozen body of a young man, Scotty Gates (Sean MacMahon), left in a tree outside his cave. The police, including Romulus's daughter Lulu (Aunjanue Ellis), dismiss the man's death as accident however, a homeless ex-lover of Scotty tells Romulus that he was murdered by the famous photographer David Leppenraub (Colm Feore). Determined to discover the truth behind Scotty’s death and prove his worth to his daughter, Romulus manages to get an invitation through a former friend to perform one of his compositions at Leppenraub’s farm. What unfolds thereafter is a twisted tale of mystery, deception and a man's struggle against his own mind.
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The Science of Sleep (2006)

Gael García Bernal plays artist Stéphane Miroux
Charlotte Gainsbourg plays artist Stéphanie






The Science of Sleep on IMDB

Stéphane Miroux (Gael García Bernal) is a man whose vivid dreams and imagination often interfere with his ability to interact with reality. He is coaxed back to his childhood home after his divorced father passes away and his mother finds him a job in a calendar printing company in France. His mother (Miou-Miou) implies the position is a creative role, and he prepares colourful drawings, each showing a disaster, for his "disasterology" calendar. However, nobody appreciates his talents and it transpires that his mother had led him on - the real vacancy is for nothing more than mundane typesetting work. While leaving his apartment to go to work one day, Stéphane injures his hand helping his new neighbor move a piano into her apartment. The new neighbor, Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), invites Stéphane into her apartment (unaware that he lives next door) where her friend Zoé (Emma de Caunes) tends to his wound. Stéphane initially forms an attraction to Zoé, though he suspects it is instead Stéphanie who likes him.
Stéphane realizes that Stéphanie, like him, is creative and artistic. They plan a project for use in a short animated film. Following the advice of Guy (Alain Chabat), Stéphane's sex-obsessed co-worker, Stéphane pretends that he isn't Stéphanie's neighbor, pretending to leave the building when he leaves her apartment. That night, when he is sleepwalking he writes a confusing note to Stéphanie that asks for Zoé's phone number. Stéphane realizes his mistake upon waking and retrieves the letter with a coat hanger, unaware that Stéphanie has already read it.
Surrealistic and naturalistic elements begin to overlap, and the viewer is often uncertain of which portions constitute reality and which are merely dreams. One such sequence, in which Stéphane dreams his hands become absurdly giant, was inspired by a recurring nightmare director Michel Gondry had as a child.[3] Stéphane becomes more enamoured with Stéphanie as he spends more time with her and shares his many inventions with her. He gives her a "one-second time machine". Stéphane's dreams encroach on his waking life as he tries to win Stéphanie's heart and misses time at work. He breaks into Stéphanie's apartment, takes her small, stuffed horse toy and implants a galloping mechanism. While putting it back into her apartment, Stéphanie arrives and catches him, shocked, calling him "creepy." Embarrassed and heartbroken, Stéphane retreats to his apartment where he receives a call from Stéphanie who apologizes and thanks him for the gift she discovers: a galloping version of "Golden the Pony Boy," named after Stéphane.
Waking and dreaming become even more intermixed. To Stéphane's surprise, the calendar manufacturer accepts his "Disastrology" idea and it becomes a great success. A party is thrown in his honour, but he becomes depressed and begins drinking excessively after he witnesses Stéphanie dancing flirtatiously with another man. Stéphane and Stéphanie then have a confrontation in their hallway when Stéphane announces that he doesn't want to be Stéphanie's friend any longer. Stéphanie becomes very upset, offering Zoé's phone number and reciting Stéphane's note. Stéphane, still unaware that Stéphanie has read the note, assumes that they are connected through "Parallel Synchronized Randomness", a rare phenomenon he has examined in his dreams. Stéphanie offers that they discuss their issues on a date, but on Stéphane's walk to the café to meet her, he has a frightful vision that she isn't there and she doesn't love him. He runs back to her apartment and bangs on her door, demanding that she stop torturing him, though, in actuality, she is indeed waiting for him at the café. Stéphane runs at her door, attempting to break it down, but winds up bashing his head and collapsing in the hall, bleeding, where his mother eventually finds him. Tired of waiting, Stéphanie returns home while Stéphane, coaxed by his mother and her friend, decides to move back to Mexico.
Before leaving, Stéphane's mother insists that he say goodbye to Stéphanie. In his attempt to do so, he becomes extremely crass making sexual and otherwise offensive jokes to her, and accusing her of never being able to finish something she starts. Yet he reveals that he is truly interested in her because she's different from other people. As his antagonistic behavior pushes her to her breaking point, Stéphanie asks Stéphane to leave but he instead climbs into her bed and yells at her, before spotting two items on her bedside: his one-second time machine, and the boat with the forest inside of it - finished.
Stéphane falls asleep in Stéphanie's bed. As she checks on him to see why he has become so quiet, she gently strokes his hair. The film closes with Stéphane and Stéphanie riding Golden the Pony Boy across a field before sailing off into the ocean's horizon in her white boat.
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Inspiration (1931)

Paul McAllister plays Jouvet, the Artist





Inspiration on IMDB

Yvonne Valbret (Greta Garbo) is a Parisian belle who poses as an artist's model, who falls in love with a young diplomat candidate called André Montell (Robert Montgomery). As they begin a relationship, André ignores her prior dalliances with multiple lovers. Discovering her past, André leaves her. Later, their paths cross again: André finds Yvonne living in poverty and buys her an estate to live in. At some point, he reveals his intent to marry another woman. Yvonne pleads for him not to leave her. Fearing her rashness, André chooses love over his career, and returns to Yvonne to tell her of his decision -- his arrival clashes with another former lover of Yvonne, who is pleading with her for her return. André is willing to let the past be the past, but as he sleeps Yvonne writes him a farewell note, choosing not to ruin his career.
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A Time to Remember (2003)

Dana Delany plays artist Britt Calhoun

A Time To Remember - Trailer from Putchfilms on Vimeo.

An artist and single mother returns to her childhood home to patch things up with her mother who has Alzheimers disease.

A Time to Remember on IMDB

Look Both Ways (2005)

Justine Clarke plays artist Meryl Lee





Look Both Ways on IMDB

The film charts the stories of several people over a hot summer weekend in Adelaide. Photojournalist Nick (William McInnes) (based on the fictional character Chris Vassilopoulos) discovers he has testicular cancer that has spread to his lungs. On his way home he goes to the site of a train accident to report on it, and meets Meryl (Justine Clarke) an emotionally vulnerable artist, who has witnessed a man get run over by a train. Over the course of the weekend, their relationship develops sexually as another chance encounter allows them to discover more about each other; the two gradually allow themselves to let go of their fears and form a meaningful relationship.
Meanwhile, Nick's colleague, Andy Walker, has to deal with the news that his estranged girlfriend, Anna, is pregnant, made more difficult because neither of them really wanted or planned for a baby. Andy also has to cope with his ex-wife, who doesn't trust his ability to take good care of his two children. The lives of Julia (the partner of the man run over by the train) and the driver of the train are explored: Both characters are shown going through the seven stages of grief. The train driver bridges the gap with his estranged teenage son during the course of the movie. The rain at the end of the film symbolizes relief.
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Scissors (1991)

Steve Railsback plays artist Cole Morgan

Scissors on IMDB







The plot centers around the life of Angela Anderson (Stone), a sexually repressed woman in her mid twenties. The film begins with Angela buying a pair of large scissors from a hardware shop. On her way home she is attacked in the lift of her apartment block by a red bearded man, who she stabs with the scissors in self-defense. Immediately after the attack Angela is found by the twin brothers (Railsback) who live next door to her. The first brother Alex is the star of a successful soap opera, whilst the other Cole is a wheelchair-using artist. As the film progresses an attraction develops between Angela and Alex, which is constantly restrained by Angela's sexual repression. Hypnotherapy sessions with her psychiatrist Dr Steven Carter (Cox) reveal a red bearded man named Billy in Angela's past, a startling coincidence to her recent attack.
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