Retrospective: Caravaggio (1986)
Dennis Schwartz
CARAVAGGIO (director/writer: Derek Jarman; screenwriter: from an
original idea by Nicholas Ward Jackson; cinematographer: Gabriel
Beristain; editor: George Akers; cast: Nigel Terry (Caravaggio), Sean
Bean (Rannuccio Thomasoni), Tilda Swinton (Lena), Nigel Davenport
(Marchese Giustiniani), Michael Gough (Cardinal Del Monte), Robbie
Coltrane (Scipione Borghese), Jack Birkett (Pope); Runtime: 93; British
Film Institute; 1986-UK)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
An iconoclastic biopic about the adventurous 17th century
late-Renaissance painter Michelangelo Merisa da Caravaggio, who was born
in 1573 and died in 1610. The Baroque artist is superbly played by Nigel
Terry and the story is brilliantly adapted to the screen by English
director Derek Jarman. It is very sensually done, emphasizing the
artist's gargantuan appetites for bisexual and, especially, homosexual
affairs with his models, the various scandals he was involved
in--including murder, his tricky dealings with the church, and the
director's playful anachronisms, purposefully including in his film the
modern street sounds as background. Successfully filmed on a very
restricted budget, which only proves, if you know how to shoot a film,
you can do it on shoestring budget and still come up with an outstanding
film.
Derek Jarman's brief film career (this was his major film debut) came to
an unfortunate end in 1994, when he died of AIDS. His original way of
shooting a biopic (highly personal but still factual), whereby
Caravaggio's most famous works are recreated with actors who are filmed
in a style true to Caravaggio's chiaroscuro paintings (the artist's gift
to the art world), makes for a one of a kind film. Jarman creates an
inspiring visual atmosphere for Nigel Terry's brooding artist portrayal,
of the artist on his death bed. We learn about him through his voiceover
and the disjointed time frame of his flashbacks, that tells of his short
life, which comes back to him in spurts of energy and in a hauntingly
disquieting manner. This art house film, a classic in gay cinema
reaching out to a mainstream audience, the director's most accessible
film, was winner of the Silver Bear at the 1986 Berlin Film Festival.
The film opens with Caravaggio bemoaning his fate on his death bed at
Porto Ercole and his mind drifting in and out with memories of the 40
years he was always on the run, by making the declarative statement that
"Man's character is his fate." My favorite quote of his, "Through doubt
comes insight," has a ring of inspiration for what egged him on to lead
an unconventional life. In the flashbacks, we see that from his very
youthful beginnings as a struggling artist, his passions were always
ripe and his lively sexual encounters were partial to the homoerotic
ones. His artistic talents were exploited by the Cardinal, which led to
their strange relationship and for him to be made the genius painter for
the church, painting their holy figures and saints...with the
prostitutes, thieves, gay men and those from the lower classes he used
as models. To add further references to his vile character, he kept a
deaf/mute child as a slave and lived in such a lavish style that he
squandered all his money.
That this film should make us concerned about this intemperate artist,
which is not an easy task to do, is accomplished despite telling us as
little about him as possible, but letting us instead examine him and his
paintings in exacting detail by using close-ups and by making his death
watch a solemn scene, befitting a giant of a man passing before mere
mortals. The bare room he lies in, the kissing scenes of his models with
gold coins in their mouth and his death scene of gold coins covering his
eyes (like a Mafia chief being buried), plus the contrasts between dark
and light shades in the film aping his art style, the depiction of the
struggles he had over money, his wanton confessions, and the wanton life
of his models and the corruption of the church, all kept the pot boiling
on his mysterious life.
His most important relationship shown, was with the muscular Ranuccio
Thomasoni who first boxed with him and then posed as the assassin in his
'martyrdom' oils. The other embroiling relationship was with Lena,
Ranuccio's mistress and the artist's exotic model for Magdalene and the
Virgin, whose pregnancy becomes a tragic moment for her. They formed a
ménage à trois and that bawdy relationship becomes the heart of the
film.
The film captures the turbulent nature of the artist, accurately showing
his inventive art technique (the basis for current movie lighting
techniques), and it relates how the low birth artist still had so much
anger in him even as he grew in status and how he always painted in such
a feverish pitch, always the passionate artist. The film also lets us
see how he can so easily kill someone he loved because he believed he
was doing something that was just. As a result this is a dark but
imaginative look at the artist, one that has weight to it and works very
well, which should be more pleasing to art lovers than the general
public.
REVIEWED ON 12/11/2000 GRADE: B+
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ
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