Soon-to-be-legendary primitivist painter and outsider artist Séraphine “de Senlis” Louis (Yolande Moreau) toils as a maidservant in the homes of the bourgeoisie in Senlis, France. For decades, Louis harbors a secret passion for painting in the evenings after work — one that is discovered serendipitously by renowned German art collector Wilhelm Uhde (Ulrich Tukur). Taken by the woman’s enormous talent, Uhde becomes determined to bring Louis’ art to the world — and to change her life. What makes SERAPHINE (2008, 125 min) so compelling is its persuasive creation of complex characters: You scarcely believe Moreau is an actor and that the film isn’t, on some level, archival footage of the real painter.