finally love
the honor killing of vincent van gogh
Finally Love The Movie "Sizzle"
project overview
romantic-crime drama
Finally Love merges infatuation, an illicit love affair, murder, and modern forensics, with a romantic coming of age, multi-decade saga. This is the story of 20-year old Marguerite Celmentine Gachet, the naive and beautiful doctor’s daughter.
Marguerite, trapped by her over-protective father, dreamed of any possible escape…then she forged, a passionate, and dangerous liaison with that then-unknown painter Vincent.
This Limited Series follows Marguerite and Vincent’s brief 70-day forbidden love affair before his murder. This scandalous romance risked her family’s reputation… a risk that they were not willing to accept, even if it meant that the only solution was murder. As their love affair spirals towards its tragic conclusion, the viewers will learn the “persons of interest” and “clues” involved in van Gogh’s untimely death. And it is through the eyes of Marguerite, Vincent’s naive lover, (and her bastard-sister Louise-Josephine) that we explore one of the most significant and previously unknown “cold cases” in art history, one suppressed for a century, as we finally reveal the truth of who was actually responsible for the death of the iconic Vincent van Gogh, and how this crime affected art history forever.
Unlike other depictions of van Gogh’s life, the true focus of our story is Marguerite, Vincent’s one and only true love. The show is the coming of age story of a girl learning to find love, understand guilt and responsibility, and finally break free from the very abusive prison that she calls home in order to head down a path towards her own redemption.
why finally love?
“Finally Love” sets out to illustrate that van Gogh’s death was NOT a suicide. It was in fact an honor killing at the hands of Marguerite Gachet’sfamily when they unmasked the three secret portraits of Marguerite, which had been falsely attributed to a “peasant girl” and concluded that an affair had taken place and that their daughter had been compromised.
the setting (may 1890)
Vincent van Gogh departs from the asylum in St. Remy to visit his brother Theo and his family in Paris. Vincent then rapidly departs from Paris and arrives in the artist village of Auvers-sur-Oise (20 miles from Paris). Auvers is a rural village of less than 2,000 residents, surrounded by wheatfields, on the bank of the Oise River. Vincent is put under the care of Dr. Paul Ferdinand Gachet.
St. Remy-de-Provence 1890s
Auvers-sur-Oise 1890s
Paris, France 1890s
Auvers-sur-Oise 1890s
the cast of characters
MARGUERITE CLEMENTINE GACHET (20)
… was a young girl bursting at the seams. Up until now, she had no experience with relationships and only knew romance from novels, yet desperately dreams of finding love for herself. Being essentially trapped in the life of a servant-girl in her own home, she yearns to be free from her family’s strict control, a fantasy that never felt possible until meeting and falling madly in love with Vincent.
VINCENT VAN GOGH (37)
… was an unknown painter at the time, and lived in poverty, supported solely by his brother, Theo. While Vincent was deeply misunderstood in his lifetime, one thing made clear in our story is that this painter was not crazy or suicidal. This chance encounter at real first love leads to one of van Gogh’s most joyful and artistically prolific periods.
DR. PAUL-FERDINAND GACHET (62)
… is Vincent’s new doctor and the uncompromising patriarch to young Marguerite. After the loss of his wife, his grip on his dysfunctional household tightened as his behavior became increasingly stranger and more bizarre. As an amateur painter, himself, Dr. Gachet made a profitable career by manipulating artists (his patients) in order to acquire their impressionist art.
PAUL GACHET Jr. (17)
… the younger brother of Marguerite, is devious and abnormally malicious, whose actions stem from envy, resentment, and possessiveness. He not only mirrors Dr. Gachet’s abnormal behavior, he takes it to greater extremes… to the point that his sister fears being alone with him. As a narcissist who dreams of being a painter, he quickly becomes increasingly jealous of Vincent who rebuffs him when he becomes obsessed with exposing the indiscretion taking place behind all their backs. Wanting nothing more than to please his father, there is no limit to what this teenager is willing to do.
MADAME LOUISE CHEVALIER (late 40's)
… the housekeeper and not-so-secret mistress of Dr. Gachet, plays a complicated role in all their lives. Although she still performs the part of the housekeeper and governess, she has increasingly become a controlling force in Marguerite’s life after her mother’s passing. While her loyalty lies with Dr. Gachet, she too has seen romantic heartbreak throughout her life, and when the truth begins to reveal itself, and her suspicions are confirmed, everyone is left to wonder: Which side is she on, and can she be trusted?
LOUISE-JOSEPHINE CHEVALIER (GACHET) (22)
… is the daughter of the housekeeper Madam Chevalier, and the family’s deep, dark secret, as she is the product of a scandalous affair between the good doctor and his maid. While she is the closest thing Marguerite has to a sister and a best friend, she lives a tragic life as a prisoner in her only home and is forbidden to be seen by anyone, not even Vincent. Like Marguerite, Louise-Josephine deeply yearns to escape to a new life of freedom with her own “Prince Charming,” yet the only difference is that Marguerite, for once, may have found her way out.
ADELINE RAVOUX (17)
… was the teenage daughter of the owner of the Ravoux Inn where Vincent lived and died. The “Lady in Blue” had three unnamed portraits done by Vincent. Over his brief stay there in her parents’ Inn, she formed a child-like friendship with van Gogh. Decades later, in the 1950s, she was the only one to come forward and first put forth testimony that questioned the suicide-myth promulgated by the Gachets for over 60 years. She is essential to the story as she was the only living eye and ear witness from the moment when Vincent stumbled into their Inn “wounded” to his eventual death 30 hours later.
BLANCHE DEROUSSE (18)
… is the artistically talented student of Dr. Gachet. She is young, vivacious, outgoing and beautiful, and because of this, quickly becomes the doctor’s secret lover. Blanche plays an important role in that she is the most unpredictable character and wears many hats: she is a mistress, an artist and painter, a friend, a “sister” to the Gachet girls, and in the end, the most ruthless of the notorious Gachet Forgery Ring and an essential player in the murder cover-up.