Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon (1998)
Directed by John Maybury
Genres - Drama |
Sub-Genres - Biopic [feature], Gay & Lesbian Films |
Release Date - Oct 7, 1998 (USA - Limited) |
Run Time - 91 min. |
Countries - France, United Kingdom, Japan, United States |
MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Bhob Stewart
This British biographical drama probes the life of painter Francis Bacon (1909-1992), critically acclaimed as the outstanding British painter of the latter half of the 20th Century. This unsympathetic portrait of Bacon (Derek Jacobi) begins when George Dyer (Daniel Craig), a small-time criminal from working-class East End environs, drops through a skylight to rob Bacon's studio -- and is ordered into bed by Bacon. The two become a familiar couple at Bacon's hangout, the Colony Room in Soho. Bacon's sexual interests lean toward S&M, but as the cruel Bacon loses interest in Dyer and begins to look elsewhere, the couple splits. Left to his own devices, Dyer turns to drugs and alcohol -- and a tragic suicide. Visual grotesqueries and a trancelike Ryuichi Sakamoto music score capture the essence of Bacon's work (although paintings by Bacon are not seen onscreen here). The film is told in the form of a flashback from Bacon's successful 1971 retrospective at the Grand Palais in Paris to a period in the mid-'60s. Bacon biographer Daniel Farson (The Gilded Gutter Life of Francis Bacon) served as consultant on the film.
Characteristics
Moods
Themes
Keywords
artist, homosexual, painting, sadomasochism, suicide, criminal
Attributes
High Production Values