Basic
Info
Title:
Savage Messiah
Genre:
Biography, Drama
Country:
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Running
time: 103 minutes
Release
date: September 1972
Staff
Director:
Ken Russell
Produced by: Ken Russell
Screenplay: Christopher Logue
Cinematography:
Dick Bush
Music:
Michael Garrett
Editor:
Michael Bradsell
Cast
Dorothy Tutin as Sophie Brzeska
Scott Antony as Henri Gaudier
Helen Mirren as Gosh Boyle
Lindsay Kemp as Angus Corky
 |
| Dorothy Tutin |
 |
| Scott Antony |
 |
| Helen Mirren |
Summary
“Savage Messiah” is a 1972 British biographical film about the life of French sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, made by Russ-Arts and distributed by MGM.
The film was directed and produced by
Ken Russell, along with a screenplay by Christopher Logue, based on the book
"Savage Messiah" by Harold Stanley Ede. Much of the content of Ede's
book came from letters exchanged between Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and his lover
Sophie Brzeska.
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska was a French
artist and sculptor, born on October 4, 1891 and died on June 5, 1915, who
developed direct carving in a rough-hewn, primitive style.
 |
| Self portrait, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska |
Henri Gaudier was born in Saint-Jean-de-Braye near Orléans. In 1910, he moved to London to become an artist, despite not having a formal art training.
At this time, he moved there with a Polish writer Sophie Brzeska, whom he had met at the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève in Paris, and with whom he began an intense relationship, adding her surname to his although they never married. At the age of 18, Gaudier met Sophie Brzeska, who was twice his age.
 |
| Sophie Brzeska, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska |
Several books about Gaudier's work have been written, but only the book “Savage Messiah” by H. S. Ede deals with their relationship. Brzeska’s relationship with Gaudier was similar to a co-dependency because both suffered from obvious mental problems. Henri was devoted to Sophie and even added her surname to his, but Sophie was often disregarded and cold to Henri's romantic attitude.
 |
| Boy with a Coney, marble, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska |
Brzeska is often excluded from the accounts of Gaudier's life, and even the book "Savage Messiah", which deals with their relationship, focuses on Gaudier and gives little attention to Brzeska. However, the 1972 film made by Ken Russell based on this book changed the focus to the relationship between Sophie and Henri Gaudier.
After his death, Sophie Brzeska became insane and eventually died in an asylum in 1925.
Movie
Review
“A Striking Portrait of
Creative Energy”
“This is the sort of
revolutionary creativity that the UK film Council should perhaps be funding”
“Offbeat drama about the
sculptor Henry Gaudier and his lover”
“Worth seeing again”
“A fine film on the nature
of art by Ken Russel”
“A love story of artists
and a love letter to art”
Interesting
stories about the film
1. In this film, a sequence
featuring producer and director Ken Russell was shot, but later discarded.
2. In order to save production
costs, copies of uncopyrighted Soviet recordings of Claude Debussy and
Alexander Scriabin were made.
3. The Polish folk song that Sophie
(Dorothy Tutin) sings at the posh dinner party was composed by Tutin.
4. Scott Antony only appeared in
two other movies besides this film.
Thank you.
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