Caravaggio

In CARAVAGGIO, Derek Jarman portrays the life and artistic work of the Baroque painter Caravaggio (1571–1610) (played by Nigel Terry) in a style all his own. Caravaggio enjoyed early success and was courted by the rich and powerful. Yet he felt more at ease in the company of his penniless models, associated with male prostitutes and day laborers and lived in a three-way relationship with the thief Ranucchio (Sean Bean) and his wife, the prostitute Lena (Tilda Swinton). The staging draws on the chiaroscuro, the dramatic contrast between light and dark, that Caravaggio mastered, and shows his paintings in the making with the models in the studio. At the same time, Caravaggio is brought into the present day through touches such as a typewriter in the bathtub and a truck.