The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) on Netflix
Approved19652h 18mBiographyDramaHistory
Pope Julius II hires Michelangelo to carve his tomb, then orders him to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Michelangelo, a Florentine sculptor, doubts he can paint and dislikes the design chosen.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.2/108,920 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes86%
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Plot summary
Michelangelo Buonarroti, a sculptor of Florence, works on large figures near St. Peter's Basilica in the early sixteenth century. Pope Julius II wants to be remembered through great works and first sets him to cutting forty statues for a papal tomb. The pope then changes the commission and asks for a mural on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Michelangelo resists; the paneled scheme of the Twelve Apostles strikes him as dull, yet he is pushed into the job. He is unhappy with his first attempt and destroys the frescoes, then leaves for Carrara and the mountains, where nature gives him ideas. He returns with a plan for the whole vault, scenes from the Book of Genesis that the pope accepts.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Harrison admitted he wore lifts in his shoes to make himself seem taller than Heston, whereupon Heston started wearing lifts in his shoes too.
- The real Sistine Chapel could not be used when it came time to film, so it was recreated on a sound stage at Cinecittà Studios in Rome.
- Screenwriter Philip Dunne, signed in January 1963, regarded his script as an original “because I used nothing of the book at all”, building it around two men, the Pope and the artist: “I called it Quirt and Flagg in the Sistine Chapel.”
