'The Proposal': A Riveting Art World Portrait Of Control, Legacy & Obsession [Review]

The fascinating documentary, “The Proposal” begins, appropriately, with a proposition. Not one of marriage, as the title, suggests, but in the form of a letter that begs to see the hidden work of the late great Mexican architect Luis Barragán. And another entreaty while you are here: please, seek out this calm, poetic and profoundly meditative documentary if you want to be transported into a world of stillness.

“Stillness” might have been the Pritzker-winning architect’s middle name if we only knew more about him. Now you can, thanks to Jill Magid’s feature debut, which gives audiences a chance to learn more about one of Mexico’s most renowned artists.

As it turns out, Barragan didn’t just have the world’s most prominent bald spot; he also had the world’s biggest professional archive. Before the film begins, Swiss designer Federica Zanco has acquired all the drawings and designs a fan could ask for. As the film opens, Magid is trying to gain access to these unseen pieces. “Please,” she ends her letter; her voice filled with renewal and resentment. The bitterness is never explicitly explained—Magid has a Brit’s politeness—but it bubbles under the surface like a volcano ready to explode. How many letters can she send only to be denied?

A lot, apparently. But you can’t blame her. Barragan, who passed away in 1988, had a way of seducing people. His modernist style of geometric shapes and splashy colors has been raising eyebrows and cameras for years. Like all great houses, his “told stories.” The story here is no less telling. However, this journey centers the clash between two ladies and their differing ideas on how an artist’s legacy should be preserved. Sometimes they can be too nice for their own good; their arguments sound more like differing opinions at a book club than an intellectual debate.

Then again, Magid isn’t aiming for in-your-face entertainment. She wants “The Proposal” to be as tranquil and mysterious as its subject, and it isn’t a spoiler to say she succeeds in this aim. However, while many films about an artist’s admiration for another artist have a particular element of obsession to them, you haven’t seen one quite like this. The talking head interviews are limited. The plot often sidelined. Instead, the observant camera invites us into Barragan’s home where Magid is staying. It watches the shadows dance on the walls, the water running down clay pots and the planes passing by above. It’s a home away from home for all of us.

This aesthetic, minimalist, abstract approach may sound like just a collection of letters and cool images, but it’s also quite informative. Not in the origin story and list of influences kind of way. But in the “this is what the art world looks like” kind of way. Not that it does the art world any favors. Zanco is essentially holding Barragon’s work hostage in Switzerland (in a fortress even Alexander the Great couldn’t penetrate). And Magid, fed up with Zanco, pulls out all the stops and puts on a controversial exhibition that gives new meaning to “body of work.” But the main event, as is usually the case with movies, is the showdown.

The two eventually meet for coffee, their outlines barely visible through the window. Both jealous of each other’s obsession of the work, warring for control, they talk about Barragan for the final time. No spoilers of course, but suffice to say that “The Proposal” makes itself right at home in this Golden Age of truth and limit-pushing documentaries where filmmakers insert themselves into the narrative. It may not surprise those up to date gonzo/postmodern method—it’s own kind of art project in of itself— but for the rest of us, it’s a succession of salient insights on art from an impassioned artist. Is it pretentious? Occasionally so. And the fixation starts to play like an Instagram stalker scrolling through old photos. But Magid takes that magnetic obsession and lets us see the world through her subject’s eyes, as well as her own. It’s a compelling watch to be sure, this nearly unhinged desire to democratize the access to art, and ultimately an offer that’s too hard to resist. [B+]