Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £6.99 a month
Caravaggio
Derek Jarman’s unique biopic of the 17th century Italian artist Michelangelo da Caravaggio is a powerful meditation on sexuality, criminality and art.
Director: Derek Jarman
Overview
Derek Jarman struggled for seven years to bring his portrait of the 17th century Italian artist Michelangelo da Caravaggio to the screen. The result was well worth the wait.
It’s a freely dramatised portrait which conjures several of the controversial artist’s most famous paintings through elaborate and beautifully photographed tableaux vivants, and boasts wonderful performances from Nigel Terry, Sean Bean, and, in her first role, Tilda Swinton.
Related
Anselm Anselm
Biopic 2023 94 mins Director: Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders' stately and beautifully scored study of Anselm Kiefer.
Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer
Biopic 2024 90 mins Director: Thomas von Steinaecker
A riveting and all-encompassing portrait of the iconic German filmmaker.
Dread Beat and Blood Dread Beat and Blood
Biopic 1979 44 mins Director: Franco Rosso
Vibrant documentary portrait of dub poet and activist Linton Kwesi Johnson, fighting racism with the spoken word on the streets of 1970s Brixton.
Rebel Dread Rebel Dread
Biopic 2021 83 mins Director: William E. Badgley
This is the story of the iconic Don Letts, the coolest cultural polymath – narrated by the man himself.
Vita & Virginia Vita & Virginia
Biopic 2018 110 mins Director: Chanya Button
Gemma Arterton and Elizabeth Debicki relive a literary love affair, fiery and forbidden, with a remarkable legacy.
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
Biopic 1974 109 mins Director: Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog’s poetic account of the historical character who captivated 19th-century Nuremberg after emerging from isolation after 16 years in a cellar.
The Handmaiden The Handmaiden
Crime 2016 146 mins Director: Park Chan-wook
Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Stoker) channels Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith, to create a sumptuous twisty psychological thriller full of erotic intrigue.
Love & Friendship Love & Friendship
Comedy 2016 93 mins Director: Whit Stillman
Whit Stillman crosses the Atlantic for this irresistible Jane Austen adaptation, following the delicious and devious exploits of Lady Susan (Kate Beckinsale).
The Draughtsman's Contract The Draughtsman's Contract
Period drama 1982 107 mins Director: Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway became a director of international status with this witty, stylised, erotic country house murder mystery.
Godland Godland
Drama 2022 143 mins Director: Hlynur Pálmason
With his third feature, Hlynur Pálmason (A White, White Day) delivers a breathtakingly inventive and ambitious historical epic, set in mid-19th-century Iceland.
La Reine Margot La Reine Margot
Historical drama 1994 158 mins Director: Patrice Chéreau
Isabelle Adjani and Daniel Auteuil star in Patrice Chéreau's sumptuous historical drama; a thunderously good yarn full of dastardly plots, familial hatred and perverse desire.
That They May Face the Rising Sun That They May Face the Rising Sun
Drama 2023 111 mins Director: Pat Collins
A rural Irish community in the 1980s is portrayed with quiet beauty in this heartfelt drama, based on acclaimed writer John McGahern’s novel.
Sebastiane Sebastiane
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1976 85 mins Director: Derek Jarman and Paul Humfress
A distinctly bold and sensual reclaiming of gay history, Jarman here tells the sexually intense story of the 4th-century martyr.
Jubilee Jubilee
Drama 1978 106 mins Director: Derek Jarman
The mythological past and a soon-to-be bleak future converge on the sparse, grey streets of London in Jarman’s personal vision of the punk movement.
Wittgenstein Wittgenstein
Biopic 1993 72 mins Director: Derek Jarman
Written for Channel 4 by radical literary theorist Terry Eagleton and directed by Derek Jarman, Wittgenstein is a bold, offbeat biography, exploring the politics and sexuality of the great, troubled philosopher.
The Angelic Conversation The Angelic Conversation
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1985 81 mins Director: Derek Jarman
The Angelic Conversation sees Derek Jarman conjure an evocative and radical visualisation of Shakespeare’s love poems. With narration by Judi Dench and music by Coil.
The Garden The Garden
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1991 92 mins Director: Derek Jarman
Inside his modest, sparsely-furnished home on the barren, windswept Dungeness coastline, Derek Jarman dreams.
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Comedy 2023 163 mins Director: Radu Jude
Radu Jude’s follow-up to the Golden Bear-winning Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn is a pin-sharp, caustically funny critique of workplace culture and oppression.
Everybody in Our Family Everybody in Our Family
Drama 2012 103 mins Director: Radu Jude
Radu Jude delivers on the promise of his first feature, The Happiest Girl in the World, with this superb black comedy.
Night Tide Night Tide
Fantasy 1961 85 mins Director: Curtis Harrington
A young Dennis Hopper is on shore leave from the Navy when he falls for a mysterious woman who performs as a mermaid, in this intoxicating cult classic from underground filmmaker Curtis Harrington.
Apostasy Apostasy
Drama 2018 95 mins Director: Dan Kokotajlo
A deeply religious family must decide whether to stick by their relation or abandon her, in this striking debut from Daniel Kokotajlo - a prizewinner at BFI London Film Festival 2017.
Akenfield Akenfield
Drama 1975 98 mins Director: Peter Hall
Peter Hall’s extraordinary, long-unseen work of sublime poetic realism traces three generations of one Suffolk family and their lives in the farming industry.
The White Reindeer The White Reindeer
Horror 1953 68 mins Director: Erik Blomberg
The wife of a reindeer herder acquires a potion to make her an irresistible object of desire, but at a terrible cost, in this extraordinary vampiric fairy-tale set amongst the starkly beautiful fells of Finnish Lapland.