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Mapplethorpe 18 rating

Matt Smith stars as legendary photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in this full-frontal homage to the devilish bad boy, whose sex life fuelled his career.

Drama 2018 102 mins

Director: Ondi Timoner

CC

Overview

Matt Smith is mesmerising as Mapplethorpe in this no-holds-barred exploration of the sensational career of a New Yorker who became one of the world’s most feted photographers. The film follows him from his early days as the companion of Patti Smith, living at the Chelsea Hotel, to becoming the toast of the town and the bane of conservative America.

Like his photographs, which brought gay, leather-fetish sex and bondage from out of the shadows, Mapplethorpe was brave, bold and brazen. But his art was steeped in his own reality and director Ondi Timoner gives a real sense of the contradictions of a life lived on the edge, and how a fearless photographer used his passion to celebrate sex and sexuality as never before.

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