Mapplethorpe: The Director’s Cut Cinema Review

In 2018, director Ondi Timoner released Mapplethorpe, a biopic of the late, famed photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989). The film landed with a thud. Now, the film returns but in a longer and apparently more detailed look at Mapplethorpe’s life and work. Not having seen the original, I can’t compare it to the current incarnation, but Mapplethorpe: The Director’s Cut does a reasonably good job of recreating many of the most important events in Mapplethorpe’s life while still leaving a few things out.

British actor Matt Smith (Doctor Who, The Crown) plays the title role. He’s quite convincing portraying a Native New Yorker, with nary a trace of his English accent. Smith brings Mapplethorpe to life, introducing the viewer to him as a young man, a time when he struggled with his queer sexuality while he was in an intense, romantic relationship with singer/songwriter Patti Smith (Marianne Rendon). Smith leaves Mapplethorpe when she realizes that he’s gay, but the two remain lifelong friends.

The film also delves into Mapplethorpe’s troubled relationship with his parents. In one tense scene early on, he brings Smith home for dinner. The two pretend to be married so as not to offend Mapplethorpe’s strict, Catholic parents. Harry Mapplethorpe (Mark Moses) is a judgmental ogre who looks down upon his son and criticizes him constantly. The younger Mapplethorpe doesn’t let this stop him from pursuing his passion.

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While living at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City, Mapplethorpe meets artist Sandy Daley (Tina Benko), who gifts him with his first camera. That gift changes Mapplethorpe’s life, and he begins photographing everything from celebrity portraits to floral arrangements to graphic images of New York’s BDSM underground. Timoner follows Mapplethorpe on this journey, as well as through his long-term love affair with art curator Sam Wagstaff (John Benjamin Hickey), who mentors him as well as loves him.

During his lifetime and after, Mapplethorpe was a controversial figure due to the graphic nature of his male nudes, but the film glosses over this point. The audience sees a few quick shots of protesters at one of Mapplethorpe’s exhibitions, but the screenplay doesn’t go into just how much controversy Mapplethorpe’s work generated. The American Family Association, a rabidly anti-gay conservative organization, vocally opposed Mapplethorpe’s receiving of public funds for his work, yet the film makes no mention of this. The film also glosses over the deep friendship that Mapplethorpe enjoyed with Patti Smith after their love affair ended. In the film, Smith makes a few brief appearances once her relationship with Mapplethorpe ends, in reality, the two remained quite close until Mapplethorpe died.

One aspect of Mapplethorpe’s life that does get a good deal of screen time is his relationship with his brother Edward (Brandon Sklenar), who would eventually become a renowned photographer in his own right. Mapplethorpe doesn’t treat his younger brother well, always reminding him that he’s just an assistant and will never be anything more, yet when Mapplethorpe takes ill Edward steps up to the plate and helps care for him. Smith and Sklenar play off each other beautifully in these scenes.

Smith’s portrayal of Mapplethorpe is superb. He captures the essence of the artist, the artist’s passion for the work, and his intense fascination with erotic imagery. Smith is especially good toward the end of the film when Mapplethorpe is dying of AIDS. Smith looks quite sickly and emaciated in these scenes, leaving viewers to wonder if he was made to look sick with makeup, or if the actor had actually lost weight for this section of the film.

Mapplethorpe: the Director’s Cut is certainly not a perfect film, but it is a good one, well-made, and fascinating to watch. It offers a lot of insight into what made Robert Mapplethorpe tick even if it does omit a few important things. The film is now streaming at Hulu, iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon Prime.