DramaHistoryRomance

Caravaggio

- His passion came with a price.

A retelling of the life of the celebrated 17th-century Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio through his brilliant, nearly blasphemous paintings and his flirtations with the underworld.

Release Date : 1986-08-29

Language :EnglishItalian

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : BFIChannel 4 Television

Production Country : United Kingdom

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Caravaggio

Original Name : Nigel Terry

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ranuccio

Original Name : Sean Bean

Gender : Male

Character Name : Davide

Original Name : Garry Cooper

Gender : Male

Character Name : Young Caravaggio

Original Name : Dexter Fletcher

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jerusaleme

Original Name : Spencer Leigh

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lena

Original Name : Tilda Swinton

Gender : Female

Character Name : Giustiniani

Original Name : Nigel Davenport

Gender : Male

Character Name : Scipione Borghese

Original Name : Robbie Coltrane

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cardinal Del Monte

Original Name : Michael Gough

Gender : Male

Character Name : Boy Caravaggio

Original Name : Noam Almaz

Gender : Male

Character Name : Pipo

Original Name : Dawn Archibald

Gender : Female

Character Name : The Pope

Original Name : Jack Birkett

Gender : Male

Character Name : Weeping Woman

Original Name : Una Brandon-Jones

Gender : Female

Character Name : Lady with the Jewels

Original Name : Imogen Claire

Gender : Female

Character Name : Princess Collona

Original Name : Sadie Corre

Gender : Female

Character Name : Old Priest

Original Name : Lol Coxhill

Gender : Male

Character Name : Art Lover

Original Name : Vernon Dobtcheff

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bodyguard

Original Name : Terry Downes

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baglione

Original Name : Jonathan Hyde

Gender : Male

Character Name : Young Jerusaleme

Original Name : Emile Nicolaou

Gender : Male

Character Name : Model Peeling Fruit

Original Name : Gene October

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lady Elizabeth

Original Name : Cindy Oswin

Gender : Male

Character Name : Vatican Official

Original Name : John Rogan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jerusaleme's Grandmother

Original Name : Zohra Sehgal

Gender : Female

Character Name : Boy with Guitar

Original Name : Lucien Taylor

Gender : Male

Character Name : Fra Filippo

Original Name : Simon Fisher-Turner

Gender : Male

Character Name : Papal Aide (uncredited)

Original Name : Derek Jarman

Gender : Male

Character Name : Altar Boy (uncredited)

Original Name : Cerith Wyn Evans

Gender : Male

Reviews

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2024-08-21

I knew there had to be a reason why anyone ever cared about Sean Bean. A more wooden actor I think I've never seen, but here his conniving "Ranuccio" is sexy and provocative and put together with Nigel Terry's convincing performance as the eponymous artist and Dexter Fletcher's efforts as the younger, manipulative, Caravaggio, this is a no-holes barred/bared look at debauchery and hedonism in a papal Italy that was way more interested in sex and depravity than it was upholding the values of Christian decency. Indeed, the closer to the throne of St. Peter one gets the more licentious you seem to need to be. That's ideally epitomised by Nigel Davenport's "Giustiniani" and the under-rated Michael Gough as "Cardinal Del Monte" - now, he really does like to say "yes"! Robbie Coltrane doesn't doesn't quite fit the bill as the scheming "Borghese" though, nor does Tilda Swinton's cheated upon "Lena", but they don't really matter so much as this painter decides to abandon the more traditional, idealistic, style of portraiture and actually draw things warts and all - and boy, there are plenty of warts. Sexual fluidity, nudity, very little left to the imagination - and it all amalgamates to create quite a potent and plausible representation of the do as I say not as I do (high) society that prevailed at the time. It's got a few roots in history, but for the most part it can't really be considered much more than a sexually-charged fantasy from Derek Jarman who takes plenty of artistic licence as he uses just about any excuse to get some fit young men naked and writhing about in a not very subtly photographed fashion. The writing isn't the best, the dialogue is a bit dry but this is very much a visual experience that speculates well about just what drove a man capable of creating masterpieces of world renown amidst poverty and lots of lust. I wonder if Caravaggio really was quite this notorious in real life? If not, I doubt he'd be displeased but this colourful example of excess in just about every form. Not for everyone, and probably not for any serious art historians - but as tangentially fact-based soft gay porn, it sort of works!