The Nightmare Worlds of H.G. Wells (TV Mini Series) The Devotee of Art (2016) User Reviews

Is One Masterpiece Enough

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 22 April 2020]

It's the old deal with the devil. The devil gets to call the shots. In this one, a talentless young artist becomes involved with his painting of a striking woman. He has love and acceptance and throws it away. When his wife says of his lovely painting, "It looks like someone else painted it," she hits it right on the head. Better than the first episode, a bit too bleak for my tastes.

"Let me see if I can capture you this time."

[classicsoncall · 5/10 · 27 January 2022]

When moderately talented artist Alec Harringay (Johnny Flynn) decides to enter a competition, he chooses as his subject a portrait of St. Catherine. Knowing his own limitations, he fails to achieve just the right level of creativity he desires to produce in his painting. While his wife Isabel (Antonia Thomas) frets over their finances, Alec snubs her to spend all of his time trying to create a masterpiece. When St. Catherine (Leticia Dolera) materializes in human form, she tempts Alec with the old standard of granting his wish in exchange for his soul. Without seemingly accepting the proposition, Alec goes on to paint a potentially prize winning portrait, but in his obsession, he momentarily loses his mind and stabs his wife to death. On his way to the competition, the driver of Alec's coach crashes, and he loses his right hand, and though he didn't bargain for this loss, St. Catherine comes calling to collect his soul. The story never considers the aftermath of his wife's tragic death, which I find all too often the dangling thread of stories like this that never get resolved.