Caravaggio (18)

Director: Derek Jarman
Starring: Nigel Terry, Sean Bean, Tilda Swinton
UK, 1986, 1 hour 33 minutes

Both accessible and highly personal, this is an elegant portrait of the Renaissance painter that works miraculously well. As he lies dying, Caravaggio is reminded of his volatile relationships with two models that led both to great artistic triumphs and his arrest for murder. Close engagement with the characters gives a strong emotional pull to the story, while the quiet, painterly style is reminiscent of Caravaggio’s own. Jarman convincingly proposes a murderous intensity as the mainspring for both Caravaggio’s love life and for his furious painting. This powerful meditation on sexuality, criminality and art is Jarman at his most mature and stylish.

“It all works miraculously well” Time Out

Andy Kimpton-Nye, Director of Derek Jarman: Life As Art will introduce the screening

« previous film | next film »