IMDb >
Caravaggio (1986)
Watch It
Buy it at Amazon
Rent it at Blockbuster.com
Discuss in Boards More at IMDb Pro Add to My Movies Update Data
BETA
Discuss in Boards More at IMDb Pro Add to My Movies Update Data
Quicklinks
Top Links
trailers and videosfull cast and crewtriviaofficial sitesmemorable quotesOverview
main detailscombined detailsfull cast and crewcompany creditstv scheduleAwards & Reviews
user commentsexternal reviewsnewsgroup reviewsawardsuser ratingsparents guiderecommendationsmessage boardPlot & Quotes
plot summarysynopsisplot keywordsAmazon.com summarymemorable quotesFun Stuff
triviagoofssoundtrack listingcrazy creditsalternate versionsmovie connectionsFAQOther Info
merchandising linksbox office/businessrelease datesfilming locationstechnical specslaserdisc detailsDVD detailsliterature listingsNewsDeskPromotional
taglines trailers and videos posters photo galleryExternal Links
showtimesofficial sitesmiscellaneousphotographssound clipsvideo clipsCaravaggio (1986) More at IMDbPro »
Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
29 August 1986 (USA)
more
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
3 wins
&
1 nomination
more
NewsDesk:
User Comments:
Strange, artistic, memorable
more (15 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | Noam Almaz | ... | Boy Caravaggio |
| Dawn Archibald | ... | Pipo |
 | Sean Bean | ... | Ranuccio |
| Jack Birkett | ... | The Pope |
| Sadie Corre | ... | Princess Collona |
| Una Brandon-Jones | ... | Weeping Woman |
| Imogen Claire | ... | Lady with the Jewels |
 | Robbie Coltrane | ... | Scipione Borghese |
 | Garry Cooper | ... | Davide |
| Lol Coxhill | ... | Old Priest |
| Nigel Davenport | ... | Giustiniani |
 | Vernon Dobtcheff | ... | Art Lover |
| Terry Downes | ... | Bodyguard |
 | Dexter Fletcher | ... | Young Caravaggio |
| Michael Gough | ... | Cardinal Del Monte |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
93 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Michael Gough was fourth choice for the role of Del Monte.
more
Goofs:
Anachronisms: (At 81:00) When Ranuccio confesses about his crime, there is a truck behind Caravaggio.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Incident at Loch Ness (2004)
more
Soundtrack:
EL NINO
more
FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (15 total)
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Caravaggio (1986)| Recent Posts (updated daily) | User |
|---|---|
| the contortionist actress, who is she? | byllyrs |
| It was kinda difficult to me | hsspg |
| is this out on dvd? | teejay6682 |
| Script | estheleda |
| Soundtrack? | akaffircat |
Recommendations
If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
Show more recommendations
|
|
|
|
|
| Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon | My Own Private Idaho | Total Eclipse | Restoration | Chris & Don. A Love Story |
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
Related Links
| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| News articles | IMDb Biography section | IMDb UK section |
| Add this title to MyMovies |
This is not a mainstream movie. You may be very distracted by the presence of jokey 20th century anachronisms in this otherwise grave movie about the artistic genius, Caravaggio. 17th century merchants use hand-held calculators, modern instruments play at the parties, local scribes use typewriters, servants dress in modern dinner jackets. I sure don't know what it all means. I guess you can impute many meanings to it.
You may also be irritated by the director in his insistence that everyone is motivated by homoerotic impulses. This facet of the presentation is really more about Derek Jarman than Caravaggio.
Well, I'm not sure that the movie has much to say about Caravaggio at all. After all, Caravaggio shocked his era with his revisionist hagiography - saints with peasant faces, torn clothes and dirty fingernails - probably realistic but iconoclastic in its time, and contrary to a century of previous tradition. Moreover, Caravaggio almost invented the modern system of a consistently represented light source, showing the actual impact of light on his subjects. These key points are barely touched by the script.
But I think you probably should just let those irritations wash over you, and accept the movie for what it is. It uses the style and mood of his paintings to reflect his life, and it incorporates that precise aesthetic into the movie's own visuals. The movie looks like what Caravaggio's own moving pictures might have looked like if he could have created them in 1600.
Is it a good movie? Who knows? It's not so well remembered after a decade or so, but it exhibits a memorable gift for creating and sustaining a mood, and for breathing life into Caravaggio's canvases. It also speculates about the everyday life that must have circulated around the creation of those masterpieces.
I was willing to forgive a lot of artistic pretension and rhetorical dialogue for the superb visuals and atmosphere, and I took vivid memories away from the film. You may feel the same way.