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Artemisia

1997, Movie, R, 102 mins

Artemisia: Review

ARTEMISIA
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A steamy French biopic about the early years of Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1652). From an early age, the gifted Artemisia (Valentina Cervi), daughter of distinguished painter Orazio Gentileschi (Michel Serrault), wants to follow in her father's footsteps. But no 17th academy of the arts will accept a female student, and women are most certainly not allowed to draw figure studies of naked men. The resolute Artemisia muscles her way into her father's workshop, where she's regarded as an oddity but treasured for her talent. Then studly landscape painter Agostino Tassi (Miki Manojlovic) comes into town to paint a series of papal frescoes with Orazio. Artemisia convinces Tassi -- whose studio is a hotbed of orgies and sundry decadence -- to take her on as a student, and you know there's trouble brewing. Director Agnes Merlet's decision to make an emphatic and inextricable connection between Artemisia's artistic life and her sexual imagination is a contentious one: Historical records show that Tassi was eventually convicted of raping Artemisia, while Merlet casts them as soul mates torn apart by circumstance and propriety. But both suffered the ordeal of Tassi's traumatic trial -- where Artemisia's conduct was as much an issue as his -- and ultimately the violence of that experience found its way into her art: Her best-known work, the bloody Judith Slaying Holofernes, dates from the time of the trial. Warning: If you'd rather Michelangelo had given David a fig leaf, Merlet's uncensored scenes of 17th-century debauchery may strike you as a bit much. leave a comment --Sandra Contreras
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