Filmmakers have long found artistic creation both a compelling and a frustratingly elusive dramatic subject. In the right cinematic hands, artworks can be made to speak for themselves – think of the dazzling sequence of canvasses that concludes Vincente Minnelli’s 1956 biopic of van Gogh, Lust For Life. In the wrong hands, the artist’s character and motives can all too readily lapse into cliché and banality.

Moss & Freud explores the unlikely relationship that evolved between Kate Moss and painter Lucian Freud over nine months of sitting during 2002, producing a celebrated life-size nude portrait of the then-pregnant supermodel. It later sold for £3.5m at auction.

The sessions seemingly sparked a genuine friendship, and Moss has spoken warmly, if in fairly general terms, of Freud in interviews since. But as neither the generally guarded model nor the famously reclusive painter (who died in 2011) ever offered a detailed account of the relationship, writer-director James Lucas has to invent most of what transpired between them in Freud’s Notting Hill house and studio.

Unfortunately, his own creative freedom may have been limited: the closing credits lists Moss as executive producer and the generally unadventurous Moss & Freud has a very strong flavour of “authorised version” about it.

Uninspiring portrayals

By all accounts Lucian Freud was a difficult and at times, a cruel man,........

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