[2] The film depicts the life of Robert Mapplethorpe, a photographer who transformed taboo subjects like gay sex, Satanism, and bondage into beautiful black-and-white images.

Variety said that the film fails to capture the controversial nature of Mapplethorpe's work and portrays him as a role model who found his way into the elitist art world.

Although the film is not as provocative as Mapplethorpe's photographs, it contains several hardcore scenes, and Matt Smith plays the artist's role until his death in 1989.

[4] RogerEbert.com has a 3-star rating and stated that while the biopic follows a standard format of recounting the life of Robert Mapplethorpe, it stands out in the portrayal of the relationships between artists and their creative processes.

[citation needed] A director's cut was released in April 2021 with "restored scenes depicting Mapplethorpe’s childhood love of photography, his embattled relationship with his father, and his lingering, ambivalent connection to the Catholic faith".