Making a film about paintings is a paradox in principle. Perhaps even a blasphemy. How dare one add movement to the immobile image gingerly fossilised upon the canvas? Surely the essence of cinema (the moving image) must desecrate the nature of the brush (the still image). Mark Cousins is well aware of this, and so he opts to show the works of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham in their integrity. The CGI tricks are scarce. He rejects even the subtle zooming and panning that most documentarists use when showcasing paintings and photographs (a subtle post-production effect used in order to convey a sense of movement and enrapture viewers). Cousins’s choices are respectful and austere. He allows the strokes of late Scottish painter to do the audience engagement work for him.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, identified only as “Willie” in the documentary, was neurodiverse. She had synesthesia, a condition that causes the senses to blend together, to confusing and often extraordinary results. This means she could literally taste colours and touch sounds (long before LSD became a popular street drug!). Some sort of sensorial kaleidoscope. Plus she was able to write backwards with her left hand, an extremely rare skill which she shared with Leonardo da Vinci. This is an artist whose modernist paintings subverted mainstream conventions. Born in 1912 in St Andrews (Scotland) and heavily influenced by Russian painter Naum Gabo, Willie’s work blended the abstract and the absurd. She would often hang her pictures upside down in order to convey a new sense of meaning. The spatial forms of Scottish scholar D’Arcy Thompson and the mathematically impossible creations of Dutch graphic artist MC Escher also helped to shape Willie’s obsession with geometry.

She rose to prominence in the 1940s, when she moved to St Ives, in Cornwall. She often spent time abroad, and was inspired by the Grindelwald Glacier in Switzerland (which is quickly and tragically shrinking, Mark informs us). The film title refers to a little epiphany that Willie experienced on the Swiss Alps. Broken ice became a recurring theme for the rest of her life. She befriended Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti and Romanian sculptor and painter Constantin Brancusi during her travels (incidentally, both artists had recent films about their life, directed by Stanley Tucci and by Peter Greenaway respectively). The modernist painter did not change her style in the 1960s, after the UK was gripped by the Beatles and pop culture. She remained loyal to her roots. That combined with the fact that she too bigmouthed (potentially putting agents and partners off) prevented the artist from achieving greater notoriety and recognition. There was also an element of sexism, with some art pundits disappointed at the realisation that unisex-named Willie is a woman. She passed away in 2004 at the age of 91 in the very same town where she was born.

English-born, Northern Irish documentarist Mark Cousins narrates most of the film from a first person perspective. It’s his opinions, sentiments and extensive knowledge of the painter that prevail. Occasionally he appears in front of the camera. Touchingly, he tattoos Red Table – one of Willie’s most famous paintings – on his right arm. He is supported by Tilda Swinton, who incorporates the late painter herself, narrating some key passages of her life. The outcome is a warm and intimate love letter to an artist little known to younger audiences.

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things premiered the Official Competition of the 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, when this piece was originally written. It won the event’s Top Prize, the Crystal Globe. In cinemas on Friday, October 18th.