The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)

09/16/1965Drama, History2h 18m
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From the age of magnificence comes a new magnificence in motion pictures.

Overview

During the Italian Renaissance, Pope Julius II contracts the influential artist Michelangelo to sculpt 40 statues for his tomb. When the pope changes his mind and asks the sculptor to paint a mural in the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo doubts his painting skills and abandons the project. Divine inspiration returns Michelangelo to the mural, but his artistic vision clashes with the pope's demanding personality and threatens the success of the historic painting.

Top Billed Cast

  1. Cast 1

    Charlton Heston

    Michelangelo

  2. Cast 1

    Rex Harrison

    Papa Giulio II

  3. Cast 1

    Diane Cilento

    Contessina de'Medici

  4. Cast 1

    Harry Andrews

    Bramante

  5. Cast 1

    Alberto Lupo

    Duca di Urbino

  6. Cast 1

    Adolfo Celi

    Giovanni de' Medici

  7. Cast 1

    Venantino Venantini

    Paride de Grassis

  8. Cast 1

    Tomas Milian

    Raffaello Sanzio

  9. Cast 1

    John Stacy

    Giuliano da Sangallo

Depending on the version you see, this film starts with a gorgeously scored trip around some of the museums of Italy and of the Vatican allowing us to put the sheer magnificence of the talent of Michelangelo Buonarroti into context - and the volume and quality of that body of work, condensed into ten minutes or so, makes this worth watching just as a lesson in the history of art! The story is set during the Papacy of Julius II (Rex Harrison) the warlike, but artistically enlighted Pontiff who commissions and unwilling Charlton Heston to paint the ceiling of the rather run-down Sistine Chapel. ...

Status Released

Original LanguageEnglish 

Budget$10,000,000.00

Revenue $4,000,000.00

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