Rembrandt 1936

Set in mid 17th-century Amsterdam, Rembrandt van Rijn, Charles Laughton, endures the death of his wife Saskia, who was both his great love and his sole model. In his grief, he paints Saskia one final time as her image threatens to fade away. Shortly before Saskia’s death, Rembrandt receives a commission for his famous painting The Night Watch from the civic militia. When the painting is unveiled, the gentlemen who commissioned it cannot recognize themselves, erupt in fury, and threaten not to pay. Rembrandt’s apprentices withdraw, fearing social stigma, and he drinks with Geertje Dirx, Gertrude Lawrence, with whom he shares a mutual attraction.

Ten years pass and Rembrandt is deeply in debt; his possessions have been sold, yet the debt remains overwhelming. He meets Beggar Saul, Roger Livesey, who first models for a painting of King Saul and later teaches him how to beg, but Rembrandt has little talent for this craft. He escapes his creditors by moving to Leiden to stay with his father and brother who run a mill, but the hard labor proves too much for a sensitive artist. He eventually returns home and meets his new maid Hendrickje Stoffels, Elsa Lanchester, who becomes his model and with whom he forms a life together. The couple plans to marry, but a clause in Saskia’s will imposes a heavy burden: Rembrandt must pay his son Titus, John Bryning 20,000 florins if he remarries.

In a fit of jealousy, Geertje accuses Hendrickje of impropriety, and Hendrickje is excommunicated. Rembrandt, Hendrickje, and his son relocate to the countryside, seeking peace and space to paint. Hendrickje discovers a way to shield Rembrandt from creditors by declaring his paintings as her property, enabling him to sell them and stabilize his finances. The couple returns to Amsterdam and finally marries, but tragedy strikes soon after as Hendrickje dies. Years later, an aging Rembrandt lives in greater poverty, surviving on help from friends while continuing to paint. He invests his remaining funds in paint and completes one final work: a self-portrait that closes his long, fraught career.