Murray State's Cinema International presents Caravaggio this week. Tracy Ross speaks to Dr. Therese St. Paul, program director, and Dr. Zbynek Smetana, associate professor of art history, about the upcoming screenings.
From the MSU Cinema International website:
"Stunning movie telling the life of the celebrated 17th-century painter through his brilliant paintings and his flirtations with the underworld. While his paintings reflected an increasingly profound and religious awareness, his private life was fraught with brawls, duels, and arrests, culminating in 1606 in murder.
Director Derek Jarman incorporates the painter's precise aesthetic for chiaro-oscuro, or light-darkness, into the movie's own visuals and recreates many of Caravaggio's foremost paintings in fleeting scenes of the movie. He also intentionally includes several anachronisms in the film that do not fit with life in the 16th century.
Caravaggio is perhaps Derek Jarman's most profound reflection on art, sexuality, and identity, touching on all of his major concerns: history, homosexuality, violence, and the relationship between painting and film."
Though based on the 17th-century painter, Smetana explains that the film is not a traditional biopic. "I don't think anybody would accuse this movie to be a simple, chronological, historical narrative. I think it is a deeply personal take on how [Jarman] understands Caravaggio."
"Critics said that Jarman is winking at the audience," St. Paul adds. "I think he's also winking at Caravaggio himself. The movie is full of surprises. It's definitely engaging the viewer and participating in his own interpretation of what the biopic of Caravaggio could be."
The film is full of visual references to Caravaggio, from elements of chiaro-oscuro to fleeting tableaux vivants. Jarman "brings to life the kind of vitality and visceral impact that [Caravaggio's] paintings have. [Jarman] recreates not just the paintings, but also the sensations, the impact of the paintings through the tableau vivant," Smetana explains.
To help audience members appreciate the many references to Caravaggio, handouts will be available at the screenings explaining which specific pieces are included in the film. "We made a sort of game to try to see if the public will engage in trying to recognize these fleeting images," St. Paul says.
"I think [Caravaggio] is truly worthwhile seeing," Smetana concludes. "It is not an easy, go-to-relax, thoughtless movie. But it is a movie that presents more questions than answers, even for us."
"It will make an impact," St. Paul adds, "and you'll think about it for a while and be intrigued by it, which, I think, is as good as a movie can do."
MSU Cinema International presents Caravaggio on Thursday, October 21st, in the Barkley Room and Saturday, October 23rd in the Curris Center Theater. Both screenings are on the third floor of the Curris Center, free and open to the public.
Masks are required. For more information on the Cinema International program, including how to donate, visit their website.
