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ARTEMISIA Send This Review to a Friend
ARTEMISIA is a grand, exquisitely filmed venture into art, sex and women's rights set in 17th century Rome. Unless you are up on your 17th century art you may not have heard of Artemisia Gentileschi. This elegant, passionate film by French director Agnes Merlet brings this remarkable woman to the forefront. Artemisia was one of the first women to have her art officially recognized. That was no mean feat for a young woman in the early 1600s.
But as portrayed by winsome Valentina Cervi, Artemisia is a strong-willed, determined 17-year-old who is so set on becoming an artist that she poses nude for herself by candlelight before a mirror so she can practice drawing anatomy. She even gets a young man to pose nude for her--unheard of in that male-dominated society. Her father, the renowned painter Orazio Gentileschi, who recognizes and takes pride in her talent, allows her to be tutored by his fresco collaborator, another noted artist, Agostino Tassi.
There the trouble begins. While Tassi is teaching her perspective there are other things he teaches his willing and sexually tempted pupil, leading to scandal when her father angrily learns what has been going on in the studio. The trouble is that Tassi. is married, estranged but nevertheless with a wife, and can't make an "honest woman" out of her. He is charged with raping her and Artemisia, who loves him and is aware of her own participation in the seduction, will not so accuse him even under torture. Kenneth Starr isn't the first to pressure a woman into giving sexual testimony he wants to hear.
The script, whatever liberties have been taken, is based on a true story, supported by court depositions, and Artemisia's most famous painting, Judith and Holofernes, reproduced for the film, hangs in the Uffizi Gallery of Florence. If you saw the Masterpiece Theater television mystery thriller "Painted Lady," you'll recall that very painting as the stolen art work at the core of the drama. Small world.
"Artemisia" a significant film related to the history of women struggling for equality, is no tract but an exciting drama peopled by fine actors, including the veteran Michel Serrault as Artemisia's father and handsome Miki Manojlovic as the seductive Tassi. I've spoken to distinguished art historian Dr. Elaine Stainton about the film and for the most part she vouches for its authenticity in the way the world of painting at the time is portrayed. The result is a historical drama that is both educational and emotionally involving, without the Hollywood gloss customarily applied to biographies of noted artists. A Miramax release.
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