Institute History
Description
“Sometimes the most incompatible subjects make the best of friends,” says a character in Caravaggio, Derek Jarman’s fictionalized biography of the great Italian Renaissance painter. He might be describing the film itself, which relies on a fusion of opposites: the historical and the personal; sixteenth-century Italy and contemporary England; elegant prose and colloquial speech; the sacred and the profane; the spiritual and the sensual; and art and life. Jarman has little interest in detailing Caravaggio’s life; instead he focuses on the sensual passions which drove the artist and the man, often putting the two in conflict. The film evolves as a series of flashbacks as Caravaggio lies on his deathbed, abandoned by all but his devoted, mute servant, Jerusaleme. He reflects on his all-consuming obsession with two of his models: the avaricious, yet almost childlike, Lena, and her opportunistic, earthy lover, Ranuccio. They served as subjects for his greatest works, yet loving them almost destroyed him. Caravaggio has the warm, rich look of a Renaissance painting and an inventive sound track which suggests the wider world; it's hard to believe it was shot in a London warehouse on an extremely low budget.