Main Cast: Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison, Diane Cilento, Harry Andrews, Alberto Lupo
Release Year: 1965
Country: US
Run Time: 136 minutes
Plot
Adapted by Philip Dunne from the novel by Irving Stone, The Agony and the Ecstacy is the story of the 16th century war of wills between Renaissance artist Michelangelo (Charlton Heston) and "warrior pope" Julius II (Rex Harrison). Commissioned to paint a religious fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the independent-minded Michelangelo balks at the assignment. He is virtually strongarmed into accepting the job by Pope Julius, who wants to leave something for future generations to remember him by. Director Carol Reed deftly juggles screen time between the Pope's activities on the battlefield and Michelangelo's slow, arduous completion of his monumental task. The film also gingerly approaches the subject of Michelangelo's sexual orientation vis-a-vis his relationship with the Contessina de Medici (Diane Cilento). Too long and limited in subject matter to score at the box office, The Agony and the Ecstacy holds up pretty well when seen today, especially when viewed in a wide-screen print. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Goaded by Pope Julius II, Michelangelo paints the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel between 1508 and 1512 in this lavish motion picture directed by Carol Reed. The production is a sumptuous feast for viewers who like films dripping with history, including watercolors trickling into Michelangelo's eyes while he lies on scaffolding painting the Book of Genesis from Adam to Noah. Although the film's script and character development are not exceptional, the production scores an A with a 16th century atmosphere peopled with robed theocrats, breastplated warriors, and quarrymen hewing prized Carrara marble from a great jaw of stone. Charlton Heston portrays Michelangelo with the same larger-than-life magnetism he exhibited while parting the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments and driving his quadriga to victory in Ben-Hur (critics of Heston -- and they are legion -- opine that he performs with smaller-than-life dispassion in all of his films). Rex Harrison is appropriately nettlesome as Julius II, the warrior pope who conquers Perugia and Bologna and loves art as much as armor. Between wars and affairs of state, the impatient pontiff looks in on the recumbent painter atop the scaffolding and asks, "When will you make an end of it?" Julius understands only the ecstasy of viewing a finished masterpiece, not the agony of creating it. And there we have the central conflict: Julius the pragmatist versus Michelangelo the idealist. But Michelangelo paints on, often without compensation, for his is a godly enterprise for Holy Mother Church. Although the comely Contessina de Medici (Diane Cilento) temporarily distracts him from his work as she nurses him back to health after he suffers a fall, Michelangelo remains faithful to his true love, art. The flesh is willing, perhaps, but the spirit has work to do. Overall, the film is probably too long, but it does succeed in bathing the viewer in the 16th century, washing away 21st century qualm and anxiety with the healing balm of Renaissance majesty. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
The film was shot in Todd-AO and Cinemascope versions. The Todd-AO version was used for the DVD release because of its superior picture quality.
The movie is centered around Michelangelo's painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling for Julius II. In that respect it differs from the book, which covered the grand scope of Michelangelo's life.
The film shows Michelangelo arguing often with the Pope, as well as with Donato Bramante, the Pope's architect. It also depicts the painter Raphael painting the School of Athens fresco, and the film features many classic exchanges between Michelangelo and Julius II. At one point the Pope has to pretend to hire Raphael to finish working on the ceiling to get Michelangelo to finish it when he has become ill. Michelangelo makes a similar gesture to the Pope when enemy armies are approaching Rome; the Pope is in bed, having given up, when Michelangelo tells the Pope that he won't complete the Sistine chapel ceiling because the Pope has not completed his work.
Michelangelo is shown painting the original commission of the 12 Apostles for the Sistine Chapel, but then destroys the work he has done after seeing a barman throw away sour wine saying, "If the wine is sour, throw it out!" Michelangelo then goes into hiding at Carrara. During this time, Michelangelo has a divine vision of The Creation of Adam, which inspires him to finish the work, and he returns to see the Pope with his new ideas for the ceiling.
The recreation of the Sistine Chapel ceiling for the film was largely by the Irish painter Niccolo d'Ardia Caracciolo.
