What Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness is about
Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness drops you into the grimy, electric streets of Paris during World War I — not the romanticized Paris of postcards, but a city under pressure, rattled by distant artillery and thick with anxiety. The film compresses a pivotal stretch of the Italian-born artist Amedeo Modigliani's life into roughly seventy-two hours, tracking him as he scrambles across the city chasing something he can barely name: a place, a patron, a moment where his paintings might finally mean something to someone other than himself. Bombs fall. Policemen circle. Lovers pull at him from different directions, and critics dismiss him with the casual cruelty of people who hold all the power. It's a portrait of an artist on the edge — not a comfortable one.
How Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness came together
The film marks a significant personal project for Al Pacino, who takes the director's chair here — his first feature directorial effort in decades — while also appearing on screen in a supporting role. The screenplay, written by Carlotta Garnet and adapted from Jeffrey Hatcher's stage play, had been circulating in various forms for years before finally landing in production. Riccardo Scamarcio steps into the title role, bringing a restless physicality to Modigliani that feels right for a man who reportedly never stood still long enough for anyone to get a clean read on him.
Production wrapped with a reported budget that kept things intimate — this isn't a sprawling historical epic with thousands of extras. The period reconstruction leans heavily on costume and production design rather than CGI spectacle, which gives the film a tactile, almost theatrical quality (not surprising given its stage-play origins). Variety reported that the film premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, where it generated considerable conversation around Pacino's return to directing after such a long absence. It carries a runtime of 108 minutes and landed an IMDb rating of 6.2 out of 10 at the time of writing, which places it somewhere in the contested middle ground — not a critical darling, but not a dismissal either. No major awards trophies have been confirmed as of this writing, though its Venice platform gave it genuine visibility among the year's festival circuit releases.
The performances that anchor Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness
What's striking is how much of the film lives or dies on Scamarcio's shoulders, and he mostly carries it. His Modigliani isn't the tortured-genius cliché you might expect — he's petty sometimes, charming in flashes, occasionally just exhausting to be around. That feels honest. There's a scene midway through where he's trying to convince a skeptical gallery owner to take a second look at his canvases, and Scamarcio plays it with this mixture of wounded pride and barely contained desperation that lands harder than any grand monologue could.
Pacino's direction has an old-school, character-first sensibility that some viewers will find refreshing and others will find slow. He doesn't rush. The pacing reflects the stage origins — dialogue-heavy, chamber-drama in its bones even when it ventures outdoors into the city. The supporting cast, including actors playing the women in Modigliani's orbit and the various gatekeepers of the Parisian art world, are given enough room to breathe, which is rarer than it should be in biopics of this kind. Honestly, the film works best when it stops trying to be a historical document and just lets these people argue with each other in small rooms. The craft is uneven in places — some of the exterior sequences feel underlit in ways that seem less like artistic choice and more like budget — but the performances compensate.
MovieOTT editorial staff have flagged this one as a title worth watching for fans of character-driven historical drama, particularly those who followed Scamarcio's work in European cinema.
Where to stream Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness online
Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness is currently available on major OTT streaming platforms, which means most viewers won't need to hunt hard to find it. The Movie OTT Where-to-Watch widget at the top of this page shows you exactly which services carry it in your region right now — streaming rights shift frequently, so that widget is your most reliable real-time source. Movie OTT tracks current streaming availability across platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, and others, updating regularly so you don't end up clicking through dead links. If you're a subscriber to any of the major streaming services, there's a reasonable chance Modi is already sitting in your library waiting. Check the widget before you rent or buy a digital copy elsewhere.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Where can I watch Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness?
Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness is available on major OTT streaming platforms. The Where-to-Watch widget on this Movie OTT page lists current availability by region, since streaming rights can vary and change over time.
Q: Who directed Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness?
Al Pacino directed the film, marking a return to the director's chair after a lengthy gap. Pacino also appears on screen in a supporting capacity, making this a deeply personal project for him.
Q: Is Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness based on a true story?
Yes — the film is grounded in the real life of Amedeo Modigliani, the Italian painter and sculptor who lived in Paris during the early twentieth century. The screenplay, adapted from Jeffrey Hatcher's stage play, takes dramatic license with a specific three-day window rather than attempting a full biographical sweep.
Q: How long is Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness?
The film runs 108 minutes. It's a focused, contained story — not an epic — which suits its stage-play source material.
Q: What is the IMDb rating for Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness?
At the time of writing, Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness holds an IMDb rating of approximately 6.2 out of 10. Critical reception has been mixed, with most commentary centering on Scamarcio's performance and Pacino's unconventional directorial choices.
Final thoughts on Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness
Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness won't satisfy everyone — and it doesn't seem to want to. It's a film that's more interested in the texture of creative desperation than in delivering a tidy biographical arc. If you can meet it on those terms, there's something genuinely worthwhile here: a committed lead performance, a setting that crackles with period tension, and a directorial voice that's idiosyncratic in ways that feel earned. Hard to say if it will find a wide audience on streaming, but for viewers who appreciate character work over spectacle, it's worth the 108 minutes. Find it now via the streaming links tracked at Movie OTT.
