A retelling of the life of the celebrated 17th-century Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio through his brilliant, nearly blasphemous paintings and his flirtations with the underworld.
Cinematography
Each frame is a Caravaggio painting come to lurid life
Production
Micro-budget magic: typewriters and motorcycles in 1610 Rome
Acting
Nigel Terry's Caravaggio is all wounded ego and hungry eyes
Director
Derek Jarman
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The motorcycle and calculator weren't budget accidents—Jarman deliberately inserted modern objects to collapse historical distance and remind viewers that queerness transcends era.
Shot in a disused London warehouse with Jarman's actual friends and lovers as cast, making it a time capsule of 1980s British queer art scene.
GB
