Painted Lady (mini series)
| Painted Lady | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama, murder mystery |
| Written by | Alan Cubitt |
| Directed by | Julian Jarrold |
| Starring |
Helen Mirren Karl Geary Iain Glen Franco Nero Michael Maloney Lesley Manville Iain Cuthbertson Barry Barnes Michael Liebmann John Kavanagh |
| Composer(s) | Peter Salem |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 2 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Gub Neal Rebecca Eaton |
| Producer(s) | Emma Burge |
| Location(s) | Dublin, Ireland |
| Running time | 101 minutes (including adverts) |
| Production company(s) | WGBH Boston in association with Granada Television |
| Distributor | ITV Studios |
| Release | |
| Original network |
ITV (UK) PBS (U.S.) |
| Picture format | 14:9 |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | 7 December – 8 December 1997 |
Painted Lady was a 1997 murder mystery mini series starring Helen Mirren, involving art theft. It co-starred Franco Nero, Karl Geary and Iain Glen, and was directed by Julian Jarrold.
The role was created specifically for Mirren, as a means for her to try something a bit different from her Inspector Tennison character on the popular Prime Suspect series. The series was a collaborative effort of Granada Television (UK) and PBS (U.S.). It was broadcast on the ITV network from 7 to 8 December 1997 in the UK and in the U.S. PBS's Masterpiece Theatre 26 April 1998.
Maggie Sheridan (Mirren), a washed-up blues vocalist from the 1960s who had long since stopped performing, had settled into a comfortable life on the Dublin estate of the father of her childhood friend, Sir Charles Stafford (Iain Cuthbertson). When Sir Charles is murdered in what appears to be a bungled robbery (in which a valuable sixteenth century painting is stolen), Maggie is drawn into the world of illegal art trade in an effort to solve the mystery and avenge her friend's murder, donning the persona of Polish Countess Magdelena Kreschinskaá.
The story centers around Judith Beheading Holofernes, the masterwork of Artemisia Gentileschi, who was a 17th-century female Italian painter who survived a rape. The painting fictionally travels to Dublin and New York City, and Gentileschi's tragic story eventually figures into the plot. There are other visual references to notable paintings in the film.
Paintings featured:
Judith Beheading Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi
The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David, imitated in bathtub scene
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