Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon

292 00:29:24,590 --> 00:29:27,130 Francis Bacon, your work is known internationally 293 00:29:27,430 --> 00:29:31,220 as some of the most challenging and powerful of the post-war years. 294 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:36,230 You've resisted the Abstract movements, which have dominated those years, 295 00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:39,810 and have championed the importance of the figure in modern art. 296 00:29:40,110 --> 00:29:43,600 Why is the figure so important to you? 297 00:29:44,740 --> 00:29:49,480 Er... well, it's difficult to describe, really. 298 00:29:49,780 --> 00:29:52,780 - One can only talk about one's instincts... - Hm? 299 00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:54,820 ..and avoid the rest. 300 00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:57,910 I do it with a chance brush stroke 301 00:29:58,210 --> 00:30:00,040 which locks the magic in place. 302 00:30:00,340 --> 00:30:02,120 It's a fortuitous thing. 303 00:30:02,420 --> 00:30:04,960 It's not something I can predict or orchestrate. 304 00:30:05,260 --> 00:30:07,670 The work carries the mark of life, 305 00:30:09,140 --> 00:30:15,050 rather like a man whose flesh retains the scars of an accident. 306 00:30:15,890 --> 00:30:18,930 I suppose there are scars on the psyche too. 307 00:31:50,650 --> 00:31:52,650 I was in a cold sweat. 308 00:31:53,700 --> 00:31:55,690 I ran so bloody fast, I tell you. 309 00:32:00,210 --> 00:32:02,200 Oh, not another cigarette. 310 00:32:04,290 --> 00:32:06,280 George, we all have nightmares. 311 00:32:07,130 --> 00:32:09,370 They can't be as horrific as life. 312 00:32:10,090 --> 00:32:12,130 I'm having these dreams more and more. 313 00:32:13,430 --> 00:32:15,970 And, you know, it feels like a...like a... 314 00:32:16,260 --> 00:32:18,430 - Like a premonition. - Premonition. 315 00:32:20,020 --> 00:32:22,010 An omen of things to come. 316 00:32:25,690 --> 00:32:27,680 I bloody hope not. 317 00:32:36,580 --> 00:32:38,570 I watch him while he's sleeping. 318 00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:42,110 A prisoner of dreams. 319 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:46,540 Fighting the battle he's always going to lose. 320 00:32:48,090 --> 00:32:50,080 But I'm powerless to help him, 321 00:32:51,090 --> 00:32:53,080 as I'm powerless to help myself. 322 00:32:54,510 --> 00:32:56,500 So I watch. 323 00:32:57,300 --> 00:32:59,050 And wait. 324 00:34:27,690 --> 00:34:29,600 Now... 325 00:34:29,900 --> 00:34:32,350 out into the gymnasium of the city... 326 00:34:34,860 --> 00:34:37,480 ..to cast my rod into the sewer... 327 00:34:42,240 --> 00:34:44,230 ..and see what comes up this time. 328 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:51,330 - Good evening, Mr B. - Ah, good evening. 329 00:34:52,250 --> 00:34:54,240 That's all right. 330 00:34:54,590 --> 00:34:56,450 Nice to see you back so soon, sir. 331 00:34:56,760 --> 00:34:58,500 Have we met before? 332 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:02,540 Not exactly, sir. I helped your friend out of the building the other night. 333 00:35:02,850 --> 00:35:04,430 - My... - You were busy at the tables. 334 00:35:04,720 --> 00:35:06,510 Oh, yes. George, Mr Dyer. 335 00:35:06,810 --> 00:35:08,720 Oh, yes, I remember. 336 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:12,180 Yes, I remember. Well, it's good to see you again. 337 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:15,600 Why not pop in for a drink when you're finished up here? Hm? 338 00:35:15,900 --> 00:35:17,310 As my guest? 339 00:35:17,610 --> 00:35:19,350 I don't mind if I do, sir. 340 00:35:19,650 --> 00:35:22,940 - I'll have a word with the boss. - Yes, you do that. So will I. 341 00:35:29,750 --> 00:35:31,740 That's all, thank you. No more bets. 342 00:36:22,720 --> 00:36:26,090 This painful inability to sustain relationships. 343 00:36:26,930 --> 00:36:30,890 The selfishness my work demands leaves no room for an emotional self. 344 00:36:31,850 --> 00:36:36,060 Can tenderness ultimately only manifest itself in the motion of a brush? 345 00:36:37,110 --> 00:36:39,100 Even this remains invisible. 346 00:36:40,650 --> 00:36:42,310 The visceral reach, 347 00:36:42,610 --> 00:36:46,110 running fingertips along the curved notches of a spine. 348 00:36:46,950 --> 00:36:51,120 The line of a femur, the curl of tendon into muscle. 349 00:36:52,410 --> 00:36:54,120 The smell. 350 00:36:54,420 --> 00:36:56,450 To violate, desecrate, 351 00:36:56,750 --> 00:36:58,660 to examine a person from the inside, 352 00:36:59,590 --> 00:37:03,920 eroticising the white shirt cuff glimpsed beneath a dark suit. 353 00:37:04,220 --> 00:37:08,430 The girth, the solids, the sack of flesh, 354 00:37:09,140 --> 00:37:11,050 just offal bags. 355 00:37:11,350 --> 00:37:13,140 Ruminating intestines. 356 00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:17,150 Fine wines filled and swilled with rich food, 357 00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:23,650 trying to create some distance between myself and some dead lover. 358 ...