Common Sense Media Review
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Graphic sexual imagery in biopic of famous photographer.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 17+?
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Where to Watch
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Mapplethorpe
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In MAPPLETHORPE, young Robert Mapplethorpe (Matt Smith) decides to drop acid -- and then drop out of college. He moves to New York and works odd jobs while trying to establish himself as an artist. He meets Patti Smith (Marianne Rendon), and they strike up a relationship, moving into the Chelsea Hotel together. A neighbor, Sandy Daley (Tina Benko), gives Mapplethorpe his first camera, and he starts his career as a photographer. At the same time, Mapplethorpe begins exploring his attraction to men, which h'd been suppressing. His photographs are a cross-section of beautiful, black-and-white celebrity portraits, flowers, and gay erotica, which completely baffles galleries. Meanwhile, though Mapplethorpe has shunned his family, his worshipful younger brother, Edward (Brandon Sklenar), becomes a mistreated assistant. As the 1980s roll around, Mapplethorpe finds himself growing terribly ill, even as his work grows more celebrated.
Is It Any Good?
Smith is effortlessly good, but his efforts are wasted in this numbing, by-the-numbers biopic, and the real Mapplethorpe's striking visual creations are blunted by a middling, timid presentation. Directed by Ondi Timoner, who made the excellent rock documentary DIG! (2004), Mapplethorpe is a surprising dud. It prompts the question: How could the filmmakers have looked at those lustrous photographs and then settled on such a flat, lifeless, monotonous look and feel for their movie? It plods forward, driven by an unsurprising collection of pop songs and montages.
Even more puzzling is the decision to actually show some of Mapplethorpe's more graphic photos while failing to grasp any kind of human sensuality among the characters; it's a chaste movie about a risqué subject. All of the secondary characters drift in and out of the movie, serving only to react with and to the main character; none of them come to life on their own. Smith is excellent -- adopting an accent and a swagger and an artist's obsession -- but everything that happens around him serves to mute his work. Perhaps worse, no one seemed to realize that this particular progression of events makes Mapplethorpe look like a highly unpleasant person, and that it might be distasteful to spend the movie's 102 minutes with him.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how Mapplethorpe deals with nudity and sex. What is the movie trying to say with its images? Are they beautiful? Shocking? What values are imparted?
How are drugs depicted? Are they glamorized? Are there consequences for the characters' drug use? Why does that matter?
What makes art "great"? Who decides when art is good, and how? Who decides what is offensive?
What's the appeal of artist biopics? How does this one compare to other biopics about artists you've seen?
Is Mapplethorpe a role model? Is he someone to emulate? Why or why not?
Movie Details
- In theaters : March 1, 2019
- On DVD or streaming : June 4, 2019
- Cast : Matt Smith , John Benjamin Hickey , Marianne Rendón
- Director : Ondi Timoner
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Director(s) , Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Samuel Goldwyn Films
- Genre : Drama
- Topics : History
- Run time : 102 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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