The movie, which stars the fetching Valentina Cervi, makes a sexy love story out of Artemisia's relationship with her teacher, Agostino Tassi (played by Miki Manojlovic): it's art lessons as foreplay. "Let yourself go," Tassi tells his young pupil, as though he is quoting from Masters and Johnson, and Artemisia not only expertly guides him in bed but insists that he gave her pleasure when he raped her. Although the real Artemisia did flout the conventions of her time by insisting on painting from live models, it's hard to believe that she proceeded with the air of defiant entitlement she's given here. Once you accept the film on its own fraudulent terms, however, it's quite engaging-not least because of the erotic subtext. References Other works inspired by the artist's life Alexandra Lapierre:Artemisia: A Novel Sally Clark: Life Without Instruction, a play by the Canadian playwright Cathy Caplan:Lapis Blue Blood Red, a play which opened off-Broadway in 2002 Susan Vreeland:The Passion of Artemisia: A Novel Rauda Jamis: Artemisia ou La Renommée 1990 (in French, not translated in English yet) Anna Banti:Artemisia Suggested reading Mieke Bal, ed: The Artemisia Files; Artemsia Gentileschi for Feminists and Other Thinking People. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2005 Mary D. Garrard: Artemisia Gentileschi around 1622: The Shaping and Reshaping of an Artistic Identity (The Discovery Series) Also found here Mary D. Garrard: Artemisia Gentileschi Mary D. Garrard: Artemisia Gentileschi: The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art (Princeton University Press, 1989), The book includes the English translation of the artist's 28 letters and testimony of the rape trial of 1612. R. Ward Bissell: Artemisia Gentileschi and the Authority of Art. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999 External links Artemisia's moment, article by Mary O'Neill in the Smithsonian magazine, May 2002 Category:1997 films Category:1990s biographical drama films Category:Biographical films about artists Category:Cultural depictions of 17th-century painters Category:Cultural depictions of Italian women Category:Courtroom films Category:Films about painters Category:Films directed by Agnès Merlet Category:Films set in the 1610s Category:Films set in Italy Category:French films Category:German films Category:Italian films Category:French-language films Category:Films about rape Category:Torture in films