Always interesting documentary on the artist Gerhard Richter, his work process and his sometimes uneasy relationship with the larger world outside his studio.

The film effectively combines a mix of traditional documentary techniques (interviews, archival footage), and much more cinema verite style, where for long stretches we simply observe Richter working on his paintings with no comment (besides his own occasional mutterings).

Through it all, I gained a much deeper understanding of the man and his work. I've always struggled to really appreciate abstract expressionism and it's absence of obvious meaning. But somehow, watching this film and the process of creation of these works, I found myself far more pulled into the painting themselves than I would ever have been otherwise. (Note – Richter has worked in many forms and medium besides the abstract expressionist paintings he was focused on during the making of the film).

Likewise the quiet, introverted, but wryly funny Richter becomes an ever more rich and likable subject – even his cranky unease at being constantly filmed is understandable and ultimately a bit endearing. His struggle to deal with the commercial side of the art world, and the desire to retreat back to the safety of his studio make him tremendously human.

I also appreciated how sensual the film was. Not in any sexual sense of the term, but how Belz managed to make us feel the physical aspects of the painting process – the thickness of the paint, the muscular effort to spread it across the canvas, even the smell of the room seem to come through the screen.

In the end, this isn't an 'essential' or 'change your life' documentary. I wasn't deeply moved, nor do I think I will be haunted by its images years from now. Yet I appreciated being given a way in to an art form and a person who made my life a little richer, and whom I might have never really known otherwise.

The filmmaker has been granted access to the "inner circle" (for no apparent reason), and Richer, his coworkers, employees, his wife etc talk to her quite casually, almost as a friend. But she does not take full advantage of this opportunity. There are no intelligent conversations, only friendly conversations. That is not enough.

It is okay that Richter does not want to talk too much about personal matters, and does not really open his bag of tricks as a painter (in front of a running camera). Being filmed at work prevents creative powers being set free, many artists say (e.g. I remember Horst Janssen saying this to a film-team). Sometimes Richter seems to expect more of the conversation but quickly realizes that no-one around him has anything valuable to say about his art. Seems to happen all the time, so he does not care. He is not a diva, but quite down to earth.

It is honorable that the writer/director does not want to lecture the user, this also means almost nothing gets treated with sufficient depth.

I suspect the writer does not know enough about art (despite a lot of research and effort that she undoubtedly put into this documentary), and so has no intelligent questions to ask when it matters. Even when the conversation does not revolve around art, but instead abound family (for instance) the dialog is a but more fluent, but still, it stays quite boring.

Sometimes the filmmaker throws in some snippets from vintage documentaries from the 60s which are a bit more inquisitive, but they seem misplaced and thus are not really helpful either.

There are only subtitles shown very briefly. The music is minimalist modern classical (piano solo, or strings).

If you praised Richters greatness as a painter to someone who does not know anything about him, and you showed her this movie before you showed her any paintings of his, she'd never believe that this is one of the greatest painters of our time.

Many of the negative commentaries about this documentary assume that Richter wanted to be left alone and should be left alone; or alternatively, that Corinna Belz should have pried more intensely with "deep, probing" questions to Richter about the nature of his creativity, his technique, his background , etc. These objections show a certain lack of sensitivity and openness to what was actually offered in the documentary. In fact, at some point Richter complained that he did not behave as he normally would with the eye of the camera always around, and still the film got made! This was an act of incredible generosity and courage on Richter's part. Even while he remains circumspect, we do see him working. The whole voyeurism exercise could pose perhaps a risk to the evaluation of his work by posterity. It may also represent a teaching legacy for those who are able to learn from what they glimpse of his technique in the film. I can imagine that the director could have designed with the assistance of critics and scholars all kinds of challenging aesthetic questions, and risk a pedantic approach to the experience; but Ms. Belz chose a delicate touch in the end --indeed like the visit of a friend--and did not force the reactions of the artist. For those paying attention, there is a lot to learn from this film. However, beyond the recognition of Richter's generosity in letting us peep into his world, it is logical to believe that someone that looks so fit for his age, plans his exhibits in small scale, and works in such a clean architectural environment did keep the right to vet the final results in this film. Glimpses of his personal life are very few. His first two wives do not appear except in unlabeled portraits and you would not recognize them for who they are; his parents are mentioned briefly even though he did not see them again after his flight from East Germany; his young wife is an exquisite brief presence. In short, the film is probably a reflection of his disciplined persona.

For those who care to see what was offered without the bitterness of not having accomplished this themselves, there is much to be praised in this film. My only complain concerns the English supertitles, which were not done with care. They can barely be read in half of the film. I hope this will be corrected at some point.