Francis Bacon (1909-92) is often regarded as the greatest and most controversial British painter of the later twentieth century. This film, made on the occasion of Bacon's major retrospective at the Tate Gallery in 1985, combines an extended interview by Melvyn Bragg with a survey of Bacon's career. Bacon himself provides a forthright commentary on key works, stressing what, for him, makes a picture succeed or fail. In his own studio he discusses the 'ordered chaos' he finds necessary for artistic creation and explores the theme of violent (often homoerotic) physicality in his work. Picking through the torn photographs and magazine clippings that litter the studio floor, he explains the influence of particular images on his artistic process. This remarkable film captures Bacon in many moods, providing an intimate and compelling portrait of one of the towering figures of modern art.