caravaggio

In CARAVAGGIO, Derek Jarman traces the life and artistic work of Baroque painter Caravaggio (1571-1610) (played by Nigel Terry) in his very own form. Caravaggio achieved early success and was courted by the rich and powerful. However, he felt more comfortable in the presence of his penniless models, socialized with hustlers and day labourers and lived in a love triangle with the thief Ranucchio (Sean Bean) and his wife, the prostitute Lena (Tilda Swinton). The production picks up on the chiaroscuro brought to mastery by Caravaggio, a dramatizing light/dark accentuation, and shows his paintings being created with the models in the studio. At the same time, Caravaggio is brought into the present: with accents such as a typewriter in the bathtub and a truck.