M.ichele Placido finally tells his Caravaggio: he is in fact obsessed with figure of a revolutionary and cursed painterfrom the genius and the killer capable of illuminating the art world with its chiaroscuro, from the time of the academy. Placid signature The shadow of Caravaggiohis 14th film, which premiered at the Rome Film Festival and from 3 November in cinemas.
To interpret Michelangelo Merisi the friend called Riccardo Scamarciowhich he had already headed in Criminal novel and ne The big dream. The film gives us back a painter with his vices and virtuesthat has revolutionized the sacred painting of 1600 painting prostitutes, miserable and poor christs. For Merisi “life was Gospel”, A modern vision, but too avant-garde for the Church. Caravaggio broke many taboos of the time: he was blasphemous, mystical and gay. Too bad that Placido does not dwell on this last aspect at all.
The shadow of Caravaggio: the plot
Italy, 1600. Michelangelo Merisi (Riccardo Scamarcio) is an artist ingenious and rebellious against the rules dictated by the Council of Trent which traced the exact coordinates in the representation of sacred art. Caravaggio did not follow the rules, his paintings were considered blasphemous and so on Pope Paul V decides to commission a secret agent of the Vatican, L’Ombra, (Louis Garrel), an investigation to decide whether to grant pardon to the painter, after the death sentence for killing a certain Ranuccio.
Caravaggio flees from Rome to Naples. Since that time Placid takes us back in time, to 1592, in the artistic and personal life of Michelangelo Merisi), between talent and perversion, prostitutes (there is also Lena, played by Micaela Ramazzoti, who becomes one of his models), orgies and duelsadmirers, enemies (the painter Baglione – Vinicio Marchioni – does not accept Caravaggio’s vision) e protectorslike Cardinal Del Monte (Michele Placido) and Costanza Colonna (Isabelle Huppert).
Riccardo Scamarcio and Micaela Ramazzotti. (Press office)
Cursed superstar Caravaggio
Michele Placido gives us the figure of a painter animated by the fire of art and unable to compromise in order to give life to a vision to which the church it wasn’t ready yet. How could he accept that a Virgin was depicted with the appearance of a prostitute? Expect a Caravaggio as a cursed pop starnot to Alberto Angela, who leads a life as a stray dog and that he was constantly searching for the representation of truth. The dark side of him, which also thickens on the canvas, is one with genius.
Riccardo Scamarcio. (Press office)
Scamarcio: “Caravaggio as Elvis Presley”
“Caravaggio and I have two points in common – says Riccardo – we are provincialsand we are moved by an authentic passion, he for art and I for cinema. When Placido told me about the project I started thinking about Merisi as if it were Elvis Presleyhis paintings were very powerful, they spoke to the unconscious and affected people. We told the man and the teacher trying to transfer the fever that moved him and its fragile side. A dualism that all great artists have ».
For Isabelle Huppert Caravaggio he is «a character Shakespearean: through his life he tells the good and the bad, the justice and transgression. Today he would abandon his artistic streak to take sides with the oppressed of the world ». For Placido «would be a war photojournalist“.
Isabelle Huppert and Riccardo Scamarcio. (Press office)
Isabelle Huppert and Lolita Chammah. Mother and daughter on the set
Isabelle Huppert plays the noble Costanza Colonna, a woman of power, mistress and protector of Michelangelo Merisi. “Those who frequent him lose their minds for him,” she says to herself in the film. In fact, any woman who approaches is overwhelmed, as happens to those who observe his works. Constance gives shelter and protects Caravaggio because he wants to defend him from himself, from his excesses and because he understands his artistic greatnessbeyond the prejudices of the Church.
“Costanza has known Caravaggio since he was a child and accompanies him throughout his life – explains Huppert – at first hers is a maternal love, then it turns into affection and finally in a love of art that has a political significance. This woman identifies with the rebellion of Michelangelo“.
Isabelle Huppert. (Press office)
He also stars in the film Lolita Chammah, daughter of the French actress. It is not the first time that the two have shared the same set. Here Lolita plays Anna Bianchinia coppery-haired prostitute with a tumultuous life who becomes the artist’s muse and lover. Drowned in the Tiber his swollen body is used to represent the Death of the Virgin, one of the most important works, accused of blasphemy, by the master. “It is the most alive death ever representedThe painting was called.
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