“Artemisia” is the 1997 Miramax biopic of Artemisia Gentileschi, a seventeenth century Italian woman painter when women were not and were not allowed to be artists. Artemisia is played by Italian actor Valentina Cervi who was unknown to me before watching the movie. She plays a young, intense woman who is determined to succeed as a painting when such activity is forbidden by, among others, the Pope. Cervi is both beautiful and believable in the role. She displays a curiosity about both her own body that she examines in her cell while living in a convent school with use of a mirror and a candle stolen from the chapel. When her father, the famous Roman artist, Orazio Gentileschi, portrayed by Michel Serrault, best known to my for his Cesar winning role in “La Cage aux Folies,” removes her from the school and brings her he begins to teach her more about painting but she quickly surpasses him in ability. He tries to get her enrolled in the Academy but the Pope won’t allow it. Orazio arranges for her to study with the up-and-coming painter Agostino Tassi, played by Yugoslavian actor Miki Manojlovic. . . . .
. . . Agostino is a bit of a rival of Orazio’s and this adds to the tension of the movie. Agostino’s instructions in art help her to develop as an artist. Soon they fall in love. When Orazio discovers them having sex he has Agostino arrested and charged with rape. I think Orazio’s reactions are based more on personal jealously of Tassi’s work than paternal concern for his daughter who appears to love Tassi and although she made love to Tassi, was not raped. The trial results in Artemisia leaving Rome and never seeing Agostino again. She gives birth to a daughter, presumably the daughter of Agostino whom she trains to be a painter. Swanson’s Nora Desmond. He was also nominated for the 1976 movie “Network” but lost to fellow star Peter Finch.
