Dante’s Inferno

Lizzie Siddal initially rejected Rossetti's romantic advances despite years of modeling for him. She was a fragile, tormented woman who struggled with severe health issues including an eating disorder. She even slashed him with a needle when he pressed himself on her, showing she was not ready or willing to enter a physical relationship despite their artistic connection.

Earlier scenes show Lizzie as a delicate figure modeling for religious paintings, establishing her as someone who embodied spiritual rather than physical devotion.

Lizzie was introduced to laudanum by Emma Brown to alleviate her severe stomach pain. This was a common Victorian remedy, but it quickly developed into a dependency. Her addiction worsened as she became increasingly hysterical due to both the laudanum and Rossetti's infidelity, creating a destructive cycle that ultimately led to her death.

The film establishes early on that Lizzie eats little and often vomits, showing her fragile health before the addiction takes hold.

William Holman Hunt asked Rossetti to look after his girlfriend Annie Miller while he traveled to the Holy Land to paint The Scapegoat. Instead of protecting her, Rossetti engaged in an affair with Annie. This reflects Rossetti's pattern of pursuing romantic relationships with women connected to his circle, regardless of loyalty or the consequences for others.

The film shows Rossetti's pattern of turning to other women when Lizzie rejects him, as he did with Fanny Cornforth.

Lizzie Siddal died from a laudanum overdose. Her health had been deteriorating for years due to her addiction and the psychological torment of Rossetti's philandering. She became increasingly hysterical and ultimately took her own life, though whether intentional or accidental remains ambiguous in the film.

The film foreshadows her death from the opening exhumation scene, and her fragile health and growing desperation throughout the narrative point toward this tragic end.

After Lizzie's death, Rossetti buried his unpublished poems with her in her grave. This act was driven by grief and guilt - he wanted the poems to remain with her as a form of memorial, but it also represented his inability to share his work with the world. The buried poems would later become a source of haunting for him.

The opening exhumation scene foreshadows the poems' eventual return, as the audience sees her body being dug up years later.

Charles Augustus Howell persuaded Rossetti to dig up the buried poems years after Lizzie's death. This decision haunted Rossetti, bringing the poems back into circulation but also reopening his grief and guilt over Lizzie's death. The act symbolized his inability to let go of the past and move forward.

The exhumation opening literally shows this moment before flashing back to tell the story.

After Lizzie's death, Rossetti became increasingly obsessed with Jane Morris, the wife of his close friend William Morris. He eventually slept with her when Morris was away in Iceland, but Jane remained emotionally distant. This obsession likely stemmed from his pattern of pursuing unavailable women and his guilt-fueled need for connection after losing Lizzie.

The film establishes early on that Rossetti was drawn to women connected to his artistic circle, and Jane was introduced as a striking figure they encountered in Oxford.

Fanny Cornforth was Rossetti's other muse and lover who remained loyal to him throughout his decline. When Lizzie rejected Rossetti, he turned to Fanny, who was more accommodating. Later, she rescued him from a suicide attempt and continued caring for him as he sank into chloral addiction and isolation. She represented unwavering devotion despite his infidelity and mental deterioration.

Fanny is introduced early as Rossetti's alternative to Lizzie, showing her willingness to accept him as he is.

The film opens with the exhumation of Lizzie Siddal's desiccated body, followed by Rossetti dancing among flames of old paintings. This striking opening serves multiple purposes: it reveals Lizzie's fate immediately, establishes the connection between her death and the birth of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, and creates the haunting imagery that will drive Rossetti's guilt and obsession throughout the film.

The entire narrative unfolds as a flashback leading up to this moment, which the audience knows is inevitable from the opening.

Rossetti developed a dependence on chloral hydrate after digging up his buried poems. The act of exhuming Lizzie and revisiting his guilt sent him into a psychological spiral. His addiction worsened as he became more obsessed with Jane Morris and isolated from his former artistic circle, eventually leading to his bleak, diminished state.

The exhuming of the poems directly precedes his descent into chloral addiction in the timeline.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was an art movement founded by Rossetti and others in opposition to Victorian academic art. The film depicts its founding and shows how Lizzie Siddal became its central muse. The movement's ideals of truth to nature and religious sincerity clashed with the personal moral failures of its members, creating tension between their art and their lives.

The opening montage establishes Rossetti as a founder dancing among burning old masterworks, showing the revolutionary spirit of the Brotherhood.