Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon (1998)

Biography of British painter Francis Bacon focuses on his relationship with his lover, George Dyer, a former small time crook.

Director:

John Maybury

Writer:

John Maybury

Stars:

Derek Jacobi, Daniel Craig, Tilda Swinton

7 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Derek Jacobi	...	Francis Bacon
Daniel Craig	...	George Dyer
Tilda Swinton	...	Muriel Belcher
Anne Lambton	...	Isabel Rawsthorne
Adrian Scarborough	...	Daniel Farson
Karl Johnson	...	John Deakin
Annabel Brooks	...	Henrietta Moraes
Richard Newbould	...	Blonde Billy (as Richard Newbold)
Ariel de Ravenel	...	French Official
Tallulah	...	Ian Board
Andy Linden	...	Ken Bidwell
David Kennedy	...	Joe Furneval
Gary Hume	...	Volker Dix
Damian Dibben	...	Brighton Rent Boy
Antony Cotton	...	Brighton Rent Boy

Storyline

In the 1960s, British painter Francis Bacon (1909-1992) surprises a burglar and invites him to share his bed. The burglar, a working class man named George Dyer, 30 years Bacon's junior, accepts. Bacon finds Dyer's amorality and innocence attractive, introducing him to his Soho pals. In their sex life, Dyer dominates, Bacon is the masochist. Dyer's bouts with depression, his drinking and pill popping, and his satanic nightmares strain the relationship, as does his pain with Bacon's casual infidelities. Bacon paints, talks with wit, and, as Dyer spins out of control, begins to find him tiresome. Could Bacon care less?

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Plot Keywords:

painter | burglar | nightmare | 1960s | lover | 

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Taglines:

Study for a portrait of Francis Bacon.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Strand Releasing

Country:

UK France Japan

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 October 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Love Is the Devil

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$63,202 (USA) (9 October 1998)

Gross:

$343,023 (USA) (17 December 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Several of the extras, including Daniel Farson and Sandy Fawkes, were real-life acquaintances of Francis Bacon.

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Quotes

Francis Bacon: Champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends.

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Connections

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Beloved/Happiness/Practical Magic/Love Is the Devil/The Cruise (1998)

User Reviews

love with an angel face

The idea of falling is important in this story.George Dyer(play with perfection by Dani Greig)thought that he would be saved by Bacon but the painter only changed Dyer's physical falling into another more interior and destructive.We can see in different scenes(and forms) "The falling" ,to the long fall of Dyer during the title sequence until his own intention to jump from a flatroof and later through nightmarish like image who also got to do with a fall (to emptiness). Love is The devil shows how Bacon creates his paintings using Dyer(what a great name it sounds `Dying') as a MUSE and we can also see the bohemian circle of Bacon's drunk friends in which the painter is the nastiest(The great Tilda Swinton appears here as the owner of `Colony room' this place somewhere in SOHO)once again we are witness of DYER fall to alcohol ,drugs and an abusive relationship with Bacon who culminates,as everybody knows, in Dyer's suicide(his last fall at least).The most outstanding aspect of the film(besides this tormented love affair) is the photography and visual trick:the use of reflection is one of the main devices used by the director Maybury to allude to Bacon's paintings(there is a large roundmirror in the background that distorts the reflected image)Mirrors are used to repeat and layer images,resembling Bacon's use of the triptych.Water and shots through glasses and bottles distorts faces and forms(like Deneuve in Repulsion).I also loved the script,the philosophical approach(existencialism,)the wonderful actor Derek Jacobi, who plays Bacon has a perfect voice and the words he says sounds like aphorism.BUT besides S&M ,there's place to tenderness:the film opens with BACON grieving the death of his lover the scene is set in a bedroom BACON seats on the edge of the bed,his head buried in George pillow(where George laid his head suffering with nightmares)the scene is unique.

Dyer was a handsome man but he wasn't very sophisticated…If he would had read POE,he would knew the existence of diabolical painters who are capable to transcribe in to their works the vital substance of their models.If he would knew the story of Faust he would be able to identify the devil in the cherubin aging face of Bacon,who was then already a fallen angel in his own personal hell.This is a little great film I recommend it.

8/10