Agony and Ecstasy

Film analysis of the movie "Agony and Ecstasy".

AP European History
Maury High School
2010 - 2011 School Year

Transcript

1. The Agony and the Ecstasy Frances Coronel Sistine Chapel: God Giving Life To Adam From Michelangelo Movie Poster: The Agony and the Ecstasy
2. The High Renaissance period from end of 15th century became known as High Renaissance when Venice and Rome began to share Florence's importance Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo were active and at their highest point of career ... so anyways.. Renaissance thinking spread to rest of Europe from early 16th century and was influential for the next hundred years
3. Now... a little history on Michelangelo Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet, lived from leading figure of High Renaissance, as he lived from 1475-1504 established his reputation with sculptures such as Pietà and David This is apparently how Michelangelo got his idea on the “Creation of Adam” entity on the Sistine Chapel Ceiling...
4. There’s a book... The Agony and the Ecstasy written by Irving Stone was presented as an biographical novel for Michelangelo. “I, Michelangelo, Sculptor” is a collection of 495 letters sent to and written by Michelangelo; translated into English around 1960 by Irving Stone with help of an Italian professor Irving Stone relied a lot on these letters when writing "The Agony and the Ecstasy" (1962) film made only 3 years later in 1965

5. So what is the MOVIE all about? They skipped a lot of parts that were in the book. Mostly Michelangelo’s childhood and older years. They focused primarily on his 4 years of work for the Sistine Chapel ceiling. BASIC PLOT: Pope Julius is eager to leave behind works by which he will be remembered. So he ends up persuading Michelangelo in painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. When not on the battlefield uniting Italy, the Pope nags Michelangelo to speed up his painful work on ceiling.
6. Who cares about the Renaissance? ...Behind it’s Usefulness...                                                                   Only some of topics, rest of topics range from Imperialism to Women In Europe.                               
7. More on the Usefulness...                 ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦   ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  On Reformation and Renaissance Mannerism Michelangelo used impacted Northern Humanism art....
8. Even more on usefulness!                                                                                                 Renaissance
9. 1st Movie Clip accurate as pope, Julius II became one of most powerful rulers of Renaissance but more concerned with political matters than theological ones became known as "the warrior pope" worked hard to restore and preserve Papal States and led military efforts to hold off intruding forces of France active foreign policy, ambitious building projects, and patronage for the arts This movie clip portrays the pope as a warrior and knight of the people. It is presented in 2 different parts because the part in between only included the knights and the pope riding on their horses for about 2 minutes.
10. Part 1: Pope Kills Part 2: Victory is Won Pope riding on horse...
11. 2nd Movie Clip accurate The movie accurately describes how time consuming and difficult it was to paint a fresco on a ceiling. The clip shows Michelangelo and his apprentices diligently working on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
13. 3rd Movie Clip inaccurate Michelangelo never painted on his back and was never alone when he was painting. you need many assistants, just to mix paints, scramble up and down ladders, and prepare the plaster he had to bend backwards a lot and crouch in awkward positions and received much physical pain because of it This movie clip inaccurately depicts Michelangelo as an artist who would lie down alone and paint on his back
15. 4th Movie Clip inaccurate Michelangelo is showing the Pope his idea for the Sistine Chapel after he had his revelation on the mountain. The Pope ends up offering him only 6000 ducats which is actually inaccurate because Michelangelo only received 3000, about 23.15lbs of 98.6% gold, which if you think about it- IS NOT A LOT for what Michelangelo made. This movie clip depicts Michelangelo’s stress as he becomes aware he will only be paid 6000 ducats, which is not even historically accurate.
17. 5th Movie Clip accurate As most of you would know, artists in the Renaissance had to have a patron in order to get paid well enough and have a decent living. Movie Clip: While Michelangelo is packing to leave since the Pope laid him off the commission fro the ceiling, a fellow artist talks to him about the way of the lives of artists in their time.
19. Movie Both What really happened Some believe Michelangelo might have been bisexual because he wrote love letters to at least one man and one woman but in the movie he seems to be strictly heterosexual. The relationship between Michelangelo and Contessina, a daughter of Lorenzo de Medici, is greatly dramatized. Michelangelo is depicted as a very stubborn man which is both accurate outside and inside of the film Michelangelo and Pope Julius II had a wayward relationship mainly because the Pope pressured Michelangelo to do whatever he wanted him to in the name of the Church. Michelangelo had a very bad situation when it came to the Sistine Chapel for all the work he did and for getting how much he got paid for it. movie chose to concentrate only on four years through which Michelangelo suffered pangs of creation as he painted the first book of Bible on ceiling of Sistine Chapel Michelangelo definitely expressed his feelings about his arch nemesis, Leonardo Da Vinci more often than not. But that’s not portrayed in the movie. Michelangelo was never really interested in Contessina romantically as they both grew older and she got married to another man. He did have a major crush on her when they were younger, but that was it.
20. Accuracy Warrior Pope Julius II How they painted those breathtaking images back then... Mannerism is accurately depicted, we learned about mannerism in AP Euro.. mannerism as we know is a style of 16th-century Italian art that was characterized by unusual effects of scale, lighting, and perspective, and the use of bright, often lurid colors Explains how art was used by politicians to gain power and influence (ex. Medici, Popes) Represents the changes in the government of Florence that occurred, as with Savanarola taking power over Florence Rome is correctly shown as a city in decay during the Middle Ages
21. Oh wow. Surprisingly, just as Michelangelo and Pope Julius were not very fond of each other because of the way the Pope tormented Michelangelo, the actors Rex Harrison (Pope) did not get along with Charlton Heston (Michelangelo) at all during filming. Twelve years later, while filming Crossed Swords (1977), they avoided each other completely.
22. The Sistine Chapel Paradox 5000 square feet of frescoes in a method of art that Michelangelo didn’t even particularly enjoy that took him 4 years and was underpaid for, as he only got paid <3000 ducats, about 23.15lbs of 98.6% gold. SERIOUSLY?
23. What Others Think Reviewers credit director as having succeeded in conveying tormenting struggles of a genius, as well as portraying two strong men whose opposition to each other often erupted in rage, but whose high regard for each other softened this anger 26 July 2008
 
 Author: thinker1691 from USA The film illustrates the great suffering the artist endured for a commission he never asked for. ...The movie itself is classic in nature and it's effect is breathtaking in it's climatic rendering. Excellance is the final gift. 9/10 stars 1 July 2005
 Author: silverscreen888 This is a fascinating, colorful and very- well made film that looks like an epic and is in fact an intelligent drama about sculptor-painter- architect-poet Michelangelo Buonarrotti. 8/10 stars
24. What I Think It’s definitely an invaluable way to learn more about Michelangelo. It makes me admire him more but at the same time somewhat pity him because he always had to be working and never had much of a social life. But there’s always a price so... There is a lot more to the Renaissance, mostly bad stuff, that I learned about with this movie... especially when it comes to the whole class system with the artists and the popes and how artists are treated like tools. The music was a little cheesy at parts but the overall execution of what Michelangelo was doing was great.
25. Sources Buonarroti, Michelangelo. I, Michelangelo, sculptor: An autobiography through letters. New York City, New York, U.S.A.: New American Library, 1964. Print. "IMDb user reviews for The Agony and the Ecstasy." IMDb. The Internet Movie Database, 1999-2011. Web. 16 May 2011. <http:// www.imdb.com/title/tt0058886/usercomments?filter=best>. Neret, Gilles. Michelangelo. Special ed Edition. Los Angeles, CA: TASCHEN, 2010. Print. Stone, Irving. The Agony and the Ecstasy . 1st ed. New York, New York, U.S.A: Doubleday, 1961. Print. "The Agony and the Ecstasy." Wahello. Wahello.com, 2000-2009. Web. 16 May 2011. <http://www.walhello.com/ the+agony+and+the+ecstasy.html>. Rich, David. "2008 AP EXAM REVIEW GUIDE." AP European History. Westerchester Country Day School, 2007-2008. Web. 16 May 2011. <http://faculty.westchestercds.us/davidrich/ files/ ap%20europe/2008%20REVIEW%20GUIDE.pdf>. Rojas, Ms. Laurie. "The Renaissance – Michelangelo [1475 - 1564]." At European History. University of Chicago, 12 October 2007. Web. 16 May 2011. <http://blogs.ucls.uchicago.edu/apeh/2007/10/12/the-renaissance-michelangelo-1475-1564/>.