Film Review: Caravaggio

About Caravaggio (1986)Derek Jarman’s stylised biopic about the life of the early Renaissance Italian painter Caravaggio, who died in 1610. Caravaggio (Nigel Terry) uses street thug Ranuccio Thomasoni (Sean Bean) as a model for his erotic paintings of St John, and a homosexual attraction between the two men is gradually revealed. Jarman’s film includes deliberate anachronisms, including mortobikes and typewriters in seventeenth century Italy.

Starring: Tilda Swinton, Sean Bean, Nigel Terry, Michael Gough, Spencer Leigh

Directed by: Derek Jarman

Runtime: 90 minutes

Studio: Zeitgeist Films

Amazon USAmazon UKIMDB

Review: Caravaggio 

Derek Jarman’s biopic covers the life of painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), beginning with his time as a teenager (Dexter Fletcher) with raw talent who is nurtured by Cardinal Del Monte (Michael Gough) who funds the young man’s career. The adult Caravaggio (Nigel Terry) continues to excel at his craft producing a series of religious paintings, each with unusual anachronisms within. Ultimately, Caravaggio’s passion leads him through periods of love, violence, jealousy and even murder.

The film is told through a series of flashbacks. We begin with Caravaggio in 1610 and on his deathbed, slowly succumbing to lead poisoning. His loyal friend Jerusaleme (Spencer Leigh), who is deaf and dumb and came to Caravggio as a boy, is by the painter’s side but cannot prevent his master’s decline. Caravaggio remembers his days as a handsome youth with a natural talent for painting who is funded by the church and becomes a renowned artist in Italy. Things take a sinister turn when Caravaggio discovers a street fighter Ranuccio (a young Sean Bean) and his lover Lena (Tilda Swinton in her first film role). Initially drawn to Ranuccio as both a model and desiring him as a lover, Caravaggio soon finds himself also falling for Lena. Love triangles are always a messy business and this one is no exception. Reason or retreat do not end this triangle. Sadly, only violence can resolve it.

Jarman’s biopic is unusual in that it evokes the essence of Caravaggio’s work in many aspects of the artist’s life depicted here. The characters smoke cigarettes, we see a calculator at one point and someone is even using a typewriter! This all blends in with Caravaggio’s style of archaic figures in his paintings but in modern dress. This is an interesting insight into the life of the artist but given that it just nudges ahead of the 90-minute mark it does seem somewhat too short and feelsl as if there are some gaps that needed to be filled out better.

Caravaggio is an interesting biopic of one of history’s celebrated artists. While the film seems too short and some substance appears to be lacking in the overall narrative, there is a good cast here that keeps things interesting.

Verdict: 3/5

(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)

Film Review: Caravaggio | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave