The film La sombra de Caravaggio (The Shadow of Caravaggio), directed by Michele Placido (Criminal Rome, Suburra) and starring Riccardo Scamarcio, Louis Garrel, Isabelle Huppert and Micaela Ramazzotti, opened last Friday.
The film delves into the final years of the passionate and turbulent life of the Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi, better known as ‘Caravaggio’. His controversial works of art caused the painter many problems in his time, as he used prostitutes, beggars and ragged people as models for his characters.
This Franco-Italian co-production details key moments in the painter’s life between Rome and Naples: his conflicts with the Church, his love affairs and his enigmatic death. All these elements and many more form part of this film, in which the Italian master’s paintings come amazingly to life.
The film is set in Italy in 1610. Caravaggio is one of the greatest living painters, but he is also considered a rebel by the Catholic Church, which decides to investigate him in secret. Meanwhile, Pope Paul V weighs up whether to grant him clemency for murdering a rival. A complete journey through the fascinating life of one of the greatest painters of all time.
