Love Is the Devil Movie Review

What if MTV made a movie about painter Francis Bacon... what would that be like? Okay, why the hell would MTV make a movie about Francis Bacon!? Both of these questions come to mind while watching Love Is the Devil, a fairly wretched film that likes to shock you with plenty of male nudity.

Love Is the Devil is one of few films that is probably just as good -- if not better -- with the sound turned off. Listening to Bacon (Jacobi) talk incessantly to his gay lover George (Craig), whom he meets when he breaks into his studio, gets nuaseating after about 20 minutes. Watching the film is nauseating too, but only because of all the camera trickery. Overall, this is pretty cool -- though you realize quickly that it's a crutch to avoid showing you none of Bacon's art, since they couldn't get permission to do so for the movie. No surprise -- Bacon isn't exactly a hero here.

Altogether, it's as equally banal as Surviving Picasso, only weirder.