Sin

A nice but slowly paced biopic about life of Michelangelo Buonarroti . It is a gripping but dull reflection on the agony and ecstasy of his individual greatness as well as his misfortunes and privations . Set in Florence, early XVI century , the picture deals with Michelangelo or Michael Angel who is working on the Carrara's marble creating sculptures and he is then ordered by Pope Julius II to build his tomb and while painting of as called Sistine chapel (that's why it was built by Pope Sisto) . Although widely considered a genius by his contemporaries, Michelangelo Buonarroti (Alberto Testone giving a first-range acting) he suffers poverty , starvation , deceits and shortages . Depicting the profound humanity behind the legend of the Renaissance . Meanwhile , he'll develop various relationships with other Renaissance's important people . The film is correctly based on historical deeds and appearing famous roles , such as : Raphael , Papa Giulio II, Papa Leon X , Dante Alighieri , Giulio De' Medici , Lorenzo Medici , Boccaccio and Marchese Malaspina . The motion picture describes specially the creation of the enormous paintings on the ceiling and the difficulties that Michael Angel is suffering to achieve the immortal legacy . The Pope Julius II will also assign him the realization of his tomb , but then his commissioner and head of the Della Rovere nobility Pope Julius II dies , Michelangelo becomes obsessed with sourcing the finest marble to complete his tomb. The artist's loyalty is tested when Leo X , of the rival Medici family, ascends to the papacy and charges him with a lucrative new commission - the façade of the San Lorenzo basilica . Forced to lie to maintain favour with both families , Michelangelo is progressively tormented by suspicion , betrayal and hallucinations , leading him to ruthlessly examine his own moral and artistic failings.

In Il Pecccato or The Sin whe find us an outandish Michelangelo as a lonely sculptor who's reduced to poverty and depleted by his struggle to finish the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and an unfinished tomb of Julius II . Throughout the film we witness the confrontation of the two families that dominated sixteenth century Florence: the Della Rove and the Medici. At the same time we observe the hard work of Michelangelo as he tries to extract the marble from Carrara and as he sculpts the famous sculptures of Moses and the Pietà. The feature movie obtained a limited success and had a moderated box-office ; however , being nowadays better valued than when its premiere . The movie follows the Pasolinian wake more than the Carol Reed's The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) style ; but I really prefer the classic and spectacular film with Charlton Heston and Rex Harrison (both of whom were magnificent) than this slow-moving , sad and poor version about this immortal historical character.

The motion picture was well written and directed by Andrei Konchalovsky. His first big hit was Siberiada (1979) - a dramatic and realistic story of the lives of the people of Siberia - was internationally acclaimed and brought Konchalovsky to the attention of American and European producers. From then on-wards his career has been international in scope. Pleasing critics and audiences worldwide, he made the English language films Maria's lovers (1984), Runaway train (1985), Duel for one (1986) with praised for Max von Sydow's brilliant performance), and the award-winning Homer y Eddie (1989) starring Whoopi Goldberg. Konchalovsky moved to the mainstream territory with the action packed Tango y Cash (1989). And other excursions to Hollywood to make mainstream TV productions like the Emmy-winning The Odyssey (1997) and Lion in Winter (2003) with Glenn Close , and several others. Rating Sin : 6/10 . Passable and acceptable.

More than half a century before he wrote (in collaboration) and directed 'Il peccato', Andrey Konchalovskiy co-wrote another memorable film about another great Renaissance artist - Tarkovsky's 'Andrei Rubliov' (1966). A year before 'The Agony and the Ecstasy', the adaptation of Irving Stone's novel directed by Carol Reed, had been a great international success. Konchalovskiy's film begins with that moment in Michelangelo's life where 'The Agony and the Ecstasy' ends. Like his illustrious predecessors, the Russian director has created a meditation on the genius artist, his era and his relationship with the Divine. But his hero, even if he is in search of the sacred, appears many times in this film closer to the Devil. 'Il peccato' (distributed in the English-speaking market as 'Sin') suffered the fate of many films released on the threshold of the pandemic, having a limited theatrical release. My impression is that it deserved a better fate and that there is a good chance that this film will be rediscovered and appreciated at its true value in the future.

Art history considers that when he finished the sculpture of David and the fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo was considered 'The Divine', the greatest artist of his age, surpassing in talent and fame even his contemporaries Raphael and Leonardo. And yet, the script of Konchalovskiy's film presents us as a man torn by contradictions, with an enormous ego but also susceptible to criticism and gossip, receiving respectable fees and advances but just as easily squandering the money on the family or to buy the marble for future creations, leading an ascetic life together with two of his disciples of whom he demands absolute devotion but whom he constantly suspects of betrayal. Much of the story relates the master's confrontation with the 'Monster', a huge block of marble that he wishes to bring from Carrara to his workshop to transform into what will forever become the Pieta. The metaphor seems to combine the stories of Moby Dick with that of Werner Herzog's 'Fitzcarraldo'. We see how Konchalovskiy's Michelangelo looks in every form around for a source of inspiration. From the ephemeral he extracts the essence to represent the sacred. He has a vast culture, he appreciates his competitors at their fair value but would never tell it, he reads, Dante guides his steps in life and creation, but Bocaccio is no stranger to him either. He cannot avoid getting involved in the political conflicts of the time and especially in the one between the Medici and della Rovere houses who were fighting for the control of the papal seat and the entire peninsula. The two rival groups will not hesitate to use any means - money or blood - to enslave the great artist. Obstinately pursuing his goal, Michelangelo must fight for his art, lie, betray, hurt with or without intention those around him. But nothing matters to the artist who aspires to the sacred and who, in order to reach it, is ready to cross the abyss.

Konchalovskiy creates in 'Il peccato' a complex visual universe that absorbs us in the Rome and Florence of the early years of the 16th century. The meticulous documentation is evident in various details, from clothing and food to the decoration of the palaces and the tools of the artists of the era. The lead role is trusted to Alberto Testone, an actor I did not know, who has a striking physical resemblance to the artist we know from the portraits that have reached us, and who lives his character with intensity. The same can be said about the actors around him, many of them non-professionals. The film is a Russian-Italian co-production and the influence of both cinematographic schools is evident. The result is a meeting between the historical thoroughness and the artistic and religious fervor of 'Andrei Rubliov' and the natural and realistic acting style of the films of the masters of Italian neo-realism. However, everything bears the signature of the great director that is Konchalovskiy, including the feeling that we are permanently between two worlds.

This movie has left me without blinking during the more than two hours it lasts. With beautiful photography, a hard and dry plot, and hypnotic images for its approach to an Italian Renaissance as it must have been in reality, dirty, poor and tremendously unfair.

The actors seem sculpted against the beautiful background of Tuscany with the same rawness that we find in Pasolini's films. We must not forget that Konchalovskiy collaborated with Tarkovsky in the birth of the story of another tormented artist, 'Andrei Rublev', one of his masterpieces.

From the beginning of the film we see Michelangelo in his maturity, when the intense and fierce compulsion of his sculptural works, which seem to relax only in his 'Pieta', are those of a man pursued by 'the devil' -as his character says-, obsessed by money, in a purely masculine world, far from femininity, compassion and subtlety.

The central scene of 'Il Peccato' has been compared to a certain scene in the movie 'Fitzcarraldo' and they are not wrong, because there is dementia linked to the search for a goal that constantly escapes, no matter how much effort is made, and all this is told in a way that takes your breath away. Although it is not a drama, it is the life of someone at the limit of his strength.

Highly recommended.

Up until the final scene, Il Peccato seems a beautiful chaos, with an apparently random series of scenes that seem to go nowhere in particular. But, alas, the finale might be enlightening. Konchalovsky's film obviously echoes Andrei Rublev, even though it can't be but a shadow if compared to Tarkovsky's masterwork, by portraying Michelangelo as a troubled artist that feels out of place in his brutal times. Unlike Rublev, Michelangelo is however torn by less religious themes, even though he too complains about the brutality of his commissioners, the Della Rovere and the Medici families. Always in economic difficulties, always aspiring to a sublime that he identifies in poet Dante Alighieri, never able to settle in one place, fueled by an inner omnipresent rage. Ultimately, Michelangelo's titular 'sin' is not revealed, but it might be pride: he makes no secret of how he considers himself to be a genius far above anyone else, he tries to do overly impossible things without accomplishing them entirely. A physical representation of his pride might constitute the huge marble block seen in the poster, that pays a specific role in part of the film. The cast is made up of less well-known italian actors, but Alberto Testa in particular seems the perfect choice in terms of appearance to play the Renaissance Sculptor. Equally particular is the choice to shoot the movie in 4:3 aspect ratio. The coloring however somehow reminded of Sokurov's Faust.

I found watching Il Peccato / Sin (2019) a delight!

Some user reviews of this film express their disappointment in the fact that you don't see the great master in action, working on marble or drawing. But I see that differently. Being trained as an art historian, I recognized the events and characteristics of Michelangelo shown in this film from the historical documents that have survived from that time. Having spent a significant amount of time studying the subject before making the film, I believe Konchalovskiy in particular closely read Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (1550/1568), a contemporary collection of biographies of Renaissance artists (in the case of Michelangelo, Vasari knew him personally), as the major themes in the film correspond with Vasari's account of this episode in Michelangelo's long life.

Echoing his early masterpiece Andrey Roublev (1966), which he made together with Andrei Tarkovsky, Il Peccato shows how artists are subjects of the time they live in, dependent on power structures and turbulences in violence and prosperity. The film gives a good insight in Michelangelo's social interactions with his family, rivalling artists, and patrons. Moreover, the cinematography is impressive, and the largely unprofessional acting crew performed overall very strong. A great addition to the genre of movies about artists, much more nuanced and intelligent than the classic The Agony and the Ectasy (1965). Hopefully, Michelangelo's rival Leonardo da Vinci will get a biopic of comparable quality soon!