Savage Messiah

R

1972

1 hr. 40 min.

Biography

Drama

List

55%

11 Reviews

Tomatometer

79%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

In the Paris of the 1910s, brash young sculptor Henri Gaudier (Scott Antony) begins a creative partnership with an older writer, Sophie Brzeska (Dorothy Tutin). Though the couple is 20 years apart in age, Gaudier finds that his untamed work is complemented by the older woman's cultural refinement. He then moves to London with Brzeska, where he falls in with a group of avant-garde artists. There, Gaudier encounters yet another artistic muse in passionate suffragette Gosh Boyle (Helen Mirren).

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Audience Member

A movie about the pure joy and creativity that built the relationship between Gaudier and Brzeksa. Ken Russell, as he is known to do, doesn't stop to dwell on the mental health issues or the bizarre circumstances of the two, he simply celebrates the work. Instead of dissecting them under a microscope, he puts them under a magnifying glass and illuminates the passions that drove these two artists to keep on living as they did. In lieu of the fantastic sets and bizarre camera angles, Russell delivers huge fantastical emotion and injects it right into your heart. In this way, it's one of his more straight forward and sweet movies, simply about two bizarre people who found each other at a moment in time.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Not altogether bad, but not altogether good. At it's initial time of release it must have been quite interesting. However, time has not been kind.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Coherent Ken Russell film is not as odd as some of his other offerings; the story is absorbing and the performances are fine.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Solid and typically unrestrained film from Ken Russell. The film is full of life and contemplation on the meaning and purpose of "art" -- a passionate and effective high-calibur shot of artistic inspiration. There are some genuinely breathtaking shots of Gaudier's work near the end of the film which make it worth viewing. Also, an early turn by a very young (and naked) Helen Mirren add to the merit of this hard-to-find film. Cinematic rebellion.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This art house movie is one of those rare gems of British Cinema that should be seen before you die and deserves to be ranked among the best hundred of British Films. Best performances by a raft of top British screen , Tv and theatre actors/actresses of this era. Although low budget it has excellent location sets and the distinctive Ken Russell Direction. It has developed a cult following among film buffs for its rare screenings, but its not available from Warner Brothers in region one on DVD

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

marvelous, full of passion and romance at a breakneck pace, it's a great deal of fun and ultimately very moving. also contains what i would guess is one of helen mirren's earliest naked performances. RIP ken russell, enfant terrible.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

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Ken Russell

Director

Dorothy Tutin

Sophie Brzeska

Scott Antony

Henri Gaudier

Helen Mirren

Gosh Boyle

Lindsay Kemp

Angus Corky

Michael Gough

M. Gaudier

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Pauline Kael

New Yorker

What is the sum total of his vision but a sham superiority to simple human needs, a camp put-down of everything? Like a Yellow Book diabolist of the eighteen-nineties, Russell lusts for a purity he doesn’t believe in.

Sep 28, 2023

Full Review

Derek Adams

Time Out

Henri's interesting relationship with the ageing authoress Sophie Brzeska is lost in the director's overriding credo that both art and films are a matter of how much energy you exert.

Jun 24, 2006

Full Review

Vincent Canby

New York Times

Russell takes the mystique away from art, but supplies nothing much in its place.

Rated: 2/4

May 9, 2005

Full Review

Dick Lochte

Los Angeles Free Press

[Ken] Russell, without resorting to stomach-churning violence or mindboggling camera trickery, has proven himself a true master of cinematic vitality and versatility.

Jan 3, 2020

Full Review

John Hofsess

Maclean's Magazine

It's the sort of grade B melodrama that John Barrymore would have played heavily, hammily and stoned in his twilight years.

Oct 9, 2019

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 3/5

Jun 30, 2005

Full Review

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Synopsis

In the Paris of the 1910s, brash young sculptor Henri Gaudier (Scott Antony) begins a creative partnership with an older writer, Sophie Brzeska (Dorothy Tutin). Though the couple is 20 years apart in age, Gaudier finds that his untamed work is complemented by the older woman's cultural refinement. He then moves to London with Brzeska, where he falls in with a group of avant-garde artists. There, Gaudier encounters yet another artistic muse in passionate suffragette Gosh Boyle (Helen Mirren).

Director: Ken Russell
Rating: R
Genre: Biography, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 1, 2009

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