Love is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon

Starring:Derek Jacobi, Daniel Craig, Tilda Swinton, Anne Lambton, Adrian Scarborough, Karl Johnson (II), Annabel Brooks, Richard Newbould, Ariel de Ravenel, Tallulah, Andy Linden, David Kennedy, Gary Hume, Damian Dibben, Antony Cotton, Anthony Ryding, Christian Martin, Ray Olley, Wesley Morgan, Nigel Travis
Director: John Maybury
Studio: Strand Releasing
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Brilliantly Acted But Highly Unflattering Portarit of An Important Artist
Francis Bacon
Excellent Bio
"Portraiture of Pain"
Fascinating And Repellant; A Very Good Movie

Love is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon
Starring: Derek Jacobi , Daniel Craig , Tilda Swinton , Anne Lambton , and Adrian Scarborough
Director: John Maybury
Manufacturer: Strand Releasing
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Obsession
The Mother
Enduring Love (Widescreen Edition)
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Shortbus (Unrated Edition)

ASIN: 6305847045
Release Date: 2000-04-04

Customer Reviews:

Brilliantly Acted But Highly Unflattering Portarit of An Important Artist .......2007-04-09

This black portrait of the artist Francis Bacon and his rough-trade boyfriend, George Dyer, amounts to nothing more than a bleak look at an excessively immature relationship. The film never dips below the shallow surface of their tortured lives, its focus almost always shocking and never tender.

Not knowing much about the life or art of Francis Bacon, before viewing the film I read as much about him as I could, having been forewarned that many people find the film as difficult to understand as the twisted relationship between the two people it portrays. From what I discovered of Bacon's life, the film is possibly quite accurate, at least as far as his relationship with Dyer is concerned. The problem is that real life is often not very pretty, and if a film of such unseemly lives is to succeed, it would help to offer some deeper understanding of the characters it presents, or at least proffer some hint of the artistic output of a man who, if the critics and biographers are correct, was one of the most important artists of the 20th century. Instead, Love is the Devil never reaches beyond a stark presentation of the cruel, selfish indifference of the lead character (Bacon) and the hopeless frustration of the tragic life of George Dyer. Bacon as an important artist is never explored at all, which could have served to at least balance the harshness of his more unflattering reality.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why, if their film portrayals are to be believed, so many well-known artists seem to drench themselves in squalor and dysfunction. In some respects, the story of Bacon and Dyer (as presented in this film) reminded me of the twisted love affair between Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell in the drama, Prick Up Your Ears, which starred Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina. Orton was a hugely successful playwright and Bacon a highly successful artist, and according to their respective cinematic renderings, both lived tortured lives of romantic dysfunction, paired with partners who were far beneath their intellect and talent. But aside from the further coincidence of both stories being set in England in the 1960's, there the similarity ends. Orton and Halliwell were writers, one supremely talented and the other inept, but at least they were intellectually compatible, if not professional equals. Bacon and Dyer had nothing in common beyond a self-destructive love of alcohol and a penchant for inflicting pain on each other and others around them, which appears to be the sole point of Love is the Devil.

From the very start, Dyer is clearly in over his head. His love for Bacon is fed by his awe of a talent that his mind is unable to grasp, and the frustration of having nothing to offer beyond his physical beauty. Bacon can provide only cruelty and bitchiness. The relationship is doomed from the beginning, and Bacon is portrayed as an enigmatic combination of physical masochist and intellectual sadist, with nary a hint of his awesome artistic ability. Although expertly etched by the acting of Derek Jacobi and Daniel Craig, and both actors do provide their share of brilliance, the film suffers from a limited depiction that emphasizes Bacon's cruelty and Dyer's despair. If this is an accurate portrayal of their rather sordid love lives, it would have been better for Bacon's reputation and Dyer's memory to have simply left them alone. No matter how much Bacon can be defended as a tortured genius, it is Dyer who emerges as the sole sympathetic figure in the piece, drowning his ineffectual stabs at romantic fulfillment in an ever-downward spiral of booze, drugs and rent boys.

Part of the message of this film seems to be, "Avoid falling in love with genius". If a film is to provide such a hopelessly depressing narrative of immaturity, selfishness and alcoholism, it would behoove the film's creators to at least balance these images with some of its subject's accomplishments. What emerges is not a very flattering picture of artistic genius or gay romance, and in the end, I decided if a film can only portray the seedy aspects of a great artist's private life, maybe it shouldn't present it at all. I give it five stars for the well nuanced acting, and minus one for the story and direction.

Francis Bacon.......2007-03-13

We are talking about the Sixties artist here not the Sir Guy. Really
didn't see too much in this gay film that features Daniel Craig. I see
this as an improtant addition to any Daniel Craig collections, though.

Excellent Bio.......2007-01-09

A captivating look a the tortured soul of an artist. Jacobi as usual was wonderful. Daniel Craig is poised to become one of the more important actors in cinema today. His range is astounding.

"Portraiture of Pain".......2005-10-29

One character in this film describes Francis Bacon's art as "portraitures of pain," also an apt description of this movie about the artist and his relationship with a burglar George Dyer, played by Daniel Craig, who falls into Bacon's flat from a skylight in a bungled attempt at a robbery. Completely unfazed, Bacon (Derek Jacob) informs George that if he will take off his clothes and come to bed, that he can have anything in the apartment he desires.

I know precious little about the life of Bacon; but if this movie is accurate, he was not a particularly likeable man who treats Dyer, who comes to care a great deal for him--"I love you, Francis"-- very badly. At times George is his "sorbet between courses." At other times, he banishes him from his sight.

Both actors are excellent in their roles. Jacobi actually looks like Bacon; and Craig, soon to be the new James Bond, gives a fine performance as a "tragedy waiting to happen."

John Maybury, the director, obviously wants the viewer to be reminded of Bacon's paintings since there are many distorted and fragmented shots. Additionally, many of the artist's friends from the bar have very unsymetrical faces. Bacon makes himself up in front of three mirrors. There are several shots where the characters are so close to the camera so as to give a fish-eye effect. There is also a scene where victims of an auto accident are lying in positions similar to those of figures from Bacon's art. For the most part these "portraits of pain" work.

This film is certainly worth watching.

Fascinating And Repellant; A Very Good Movie.......2005-05-03

A thief (Daniel Craig) breaks through a skylight and lands in the middle of an artist's studio. His flashlight shows paints and brushes and canvas, and scattered thick on the floor pictures and newspaper photographs of carnage, accidents, executions. Peering at him from a slightly open door is the artist (Derek Jacobi). "Not much of a burglar, are you?" the artist says. "Take your clothes off. Come to bed. Then you can have whatever you want."

The artist is Francis Bacon, one of the great painters of the Twentieth Century. The burglar is a working class, not-too-bright man 30 years younger than Bacon named George Dyer. Love Is the Devil tells of Bacon's relationship with Dyer from 1964 until Dyer commits suicide in 1971.

People probably react to this movie much the same way they react to Bacon's paintings and his life. Fascinated or repelled. Or both. Bacon's view of life is certainly there for all to see. He was an aggressive masochist where pleasure is pain and degradation is arousal. On the way to a boxing match with George, he says that "boxing is such an aperitif for sex. Like bull fighting, it unlocks the bowels of feeling." Bacon's circle of friends are brittle, obnoxious, clever queens, whether or not they are gay. They may accept George as Francis' plaything but not as a serious lover. Bacon is aroused and energized by the perversity of life. "We all have nightmares," he says to George unsympathetically one night. "They can't be as horrific as real life." His paintings are usually grotesque manipulations of the human body, where the body can look like an opened side of beef and a face can look like its been turned inside out. One critic called him the morbid poet of the world of evil. That seems to me to be superficial and ignorant. A person may not like Bacon's work, but his stuff is powerful and fascinating.

Both actors do superb jobs. Jacobi in particular just lays it all out. He gives a performance of self loathing, commitment and precise personality.

The DVD looks great. Unfortunately, there are no examples of Bacon's paintings; his estate wouldn't give permission. If you know Bacon and are familiar with his work, I think you'll find this movie imperfect but engrossing.

Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon [Region 2]

Average customer rating:

Brilliantly Acted But Highly Unflattering Portarit of An Important Artist
Francis Bacon
Excellent Bio
"Portraiture of Pain"
Fascinating And Repellant; A Very Good Movie

Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon [Region 2]
Starring: Derek Jacobi , Daniel Craig , Tilda Swinton , Anne Lambton , and Adrian Scarborough
Director: John Maybury
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Obsession
The Mother
Enduring Love (Widescreen Edition)
Archangel
Shortbus (Unrated Edition)

ASIN: B00004WCP7

Customer Reviews:

Brilliantly Acted But Highly Unflattering Portarit of An Important Artist .......2007-04-09

Francis Bacon.......2007-03-13

Excellent Bio.......2007-01-09

A captivating look a the tortured soul of an artist. Jacobi as usual was wonderful. Daniel Craig is poised to become one of the more important actors in cinema today. His range is astounding.

"Portraiture of Pain".......2005-10-29

Fascinating And Repellant; A Very Good Movie.......2005-05-03

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