Words and Pictures

Words and Pictures is a comedy-drama about two teachers at a private school whose opposing views about art turn into an open contest. Jack Marcus, an English teacher and one-time writer, has not published in years and pours his frustration into drink while trying to convince his disengaged students that language matters. Into his world arrives Dina Delsanto, an art teacher and painter whose career has been curtailed by illness. Their arguments over whether words or images carry more power grow into a school-wide competition in which students take sides.

The film was directed by Fred Schepisi, who also produced alongside writers Gerald Di Pego, who wrote the screenplay, and Curtis Burch. It is the eleventh feature in Schepisi's directing career, arriving well after films such as Roxanne and Six Degrees of Separation. Clive Owen plays Jack and Juliette Binoche plays Dina, with Bruce Davison, Adam DiMarco, Valerie Tian and Navid Negahban among the supporting cast, across 35 credited cast members and 74 credited crew.

Released in May 2014, the film runs 111 minutes and is a co-production of Australia, Canada and the United States. Its worldwide box office came to about 3 million dollars, a modest return. On IMDb it holds 6.6 from roughly 12,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.4 from a much smaller 247 votes. A critics' score of 5.6 from 93 reviews places it below the audience ratings.