For almost his whole life, James Ensor (1860-1949) lived above a souvenir shop in Ostend. The gloomy painter developed an entirely new style. Often deliberately naïve, he shows his fears, things that haunt him or fuel his rage. His expressive, narrative paintings, etches and drawings could be considered precursors of the work of Belgian cartoonists like Hergé and Kamagurka. Amidst a cacophony of Ostend gentility and folk, gales, seaside visitors, domestic rows, blathering sailors, carnival masks and shell-ridden kitsch, Ensor grew up. What the artist witnessed in his childhood is brought to life in this film through photographs, picture postcards and masks. Bird?s eye views of Ostend symbolise the view from Ensor?s studio above the souvenir shop where he lived and worked as a salesman. From these ingredients, an associative documentary arises. Watching and listening, each spectator can compose the story Ensor wanted to tell.
