Portrait made of John Ruskin by his protege the painter John Everett Millais.
In the movie Effie Gray,
at the very beginning, the teacher John tells his students
that Nature should be painted as it is seen
the good and the bad that occur
they must be true to their observation.
Later, the painter John E. Millais
happens to be hired to paint the portrait of John Ruskin
as he fell in love with his wife.
The interesting part is
when one wants to win
one truly does its best to look good
either by shining one's own qualities
and/or by degrading the competition.
According to me, the student surpassed the master
as he remained true to his self
by honouring and painting what he saw
not letting temptation of sabotaging his master's portrait becoming his goal.
Instead he made sure to paint his master as is
doing so, he did not darkened his heart with a goal that was not his.
His initial goal was to become a recognised painter and for this you need to be true to your learning.
Therefore if you are true to your initially set goal
which is your heart desire
and do not forget it
do not exchange it for some other secondary goal, say revenge
then your gain is the ultimate gain
this is the real success
as you followed the light of your heart
in the service of the fulfilment of your goal/heart desire.
Ironically; the same teacher fell short of his own teaching
as he refused to accept his wife as it is
due to his own fears - whatever fears he had.
From a deep and exalted love and devotion he had for his by then future wife
once married he let this being compromised
because of his inability to face his own fears
and contrary to his teaching
instead of seeing things for what they are
and painting his own life with what he had
he preferred to give into his fears, denials, covering up his own weaknesses
which his own self loathing ended up being directed towards his wife
who started leaving a life of an "eternal torment"
Effie's mother happened to lose at least 7 kids
and Effie's husband made fun of that barnyard who should not be at this point distressed..
Anyway the fun part is once Effie remarried
she ended up having 8 babies
Definitely the souls of the lost ones
must have reincarnated by her
I couldn't prevent myself of having that thought.
All in all, though the movie could have been more expressive in exploring these aspects
it was yet an honourable take.
May be the deep silence and the gravity displayed by all the actors was enough of a silent talk
pointing at these very emotions.