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Director(s): Derek Jarman Screenwriter(s): Stephen McBride, Ken Butler, Derek Jarman Executive Producers: Simon Curtis, Sarah Radclyffe Producers: Steve Clark-Hall, Antony Root Cinematographer: Ian Wilson Editor: George Akers Production Designer: Christopher Hobbs Music: Simon Fisher Turner |
Edward II
Collection
United Kingdom, 1991, 90 mins, color
It's unfortunate that Derek Jarman and Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe lived four centuries apart. They could have hung out and gone drinking together. They had a lot in common.
That's one reason why Jarman was the perfect person to adapt Marlowe's controversial play Edward II to the screen and the twentieth century. The story concerns a king (Steven Waddington) who is ready to sacrifice everything--the love of his people, the stability of his country, even his throne--to be with Piers Gaveston (Andrew Tiernan), the man he loves. Edward's obsessive devotion to Gaveston makes him easy prey for the ambitions of his spurned and bitter wife, Isabella (Tilda Swinton, who won the best actress award at the Venice Film Festival for her performance), and the unscrupulous Mortimer (Nigel Terry), who are equally obsessed with power.
Jarman retains much of Marlowe's dialogue but infuses the adaptation with his own attitudes, artistry, and flamboyant style. The dank, dark settings are thrown into relief by chiaroscuro lighting, painterly compositions, vivid colors, and ornate costumes, and Jarman self-consciously inserts musical numbers and the trappings of a police state, even an Act-Up demonstration, to always remind us we are watching a film, an artificial construct.
Jarman's untimely death in 1994 from AIDS deprived independent cinema and England of one if its unique artistic auteurs. This screening pays tribute to his legacy and is especially timely because filmmaker Isaac Julien's paean to Jarman, Derek, is playing as part of the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
That's one reason why Jarman was the perfect person to adapt Marlowe's controversial play Edward II to the screen and the twentieth century. The story concerns a king (Steven Waddington) who is ready to sacrifice everything--the love of his people, the stability of his country, even his throne--to be with Piers Gaveston (Andrew Tiernan), the man he loves. Edward's obsessive devotion to Gaveston makes him easy prey for the ambitions of his spurned and bitter wife, Isabella (Tilda Swinton, who won the best actress award at the Venice Film Festival for her performance), and the unscrupulous Mortimer (Nigel Terry), who are equally obsessed with power.
Jarman retains much of Marlowe's dialogue but infuses the adaptation with his own attitudes, artistry, and flamboyant style. The dank, dark settings are thrown into relief by chiaroscuro lighting, painterly compositions, vivid colors, and ornate costumes, and Jarman self-consciously inserts musical numbers and the trappings of a police state, even an Act-Up demonstration, to always remind us we are watching a film, an artificial construct.
Jarman's untimely death in 1994 from AIDS deprived independent cinema and England of one if its unique artistic auteurs. This screening pays tribute to his legacy and is especially timely because filmmaker Isaac Julien's paean to Jarman, Derek, is playing as part of the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Derek Jarman - Derek Jarman (1942–1994) was an English film director, stage designer, artist, and writer. Already an accomplished painter, he began his film career as a set designer for Ken Russell. After making experimental 8mm shorts, Jarman gained attention with his 1976 film Sebastiane. He established himself as a visionary provocateur with films such as Jubilee, Caravaggio, Edward II, Last of England, and Blue. Jarman was known for using formally experimental styles to explore gay politics. He died of an AIDS-related illness in 1994.
Screenings:
Fri. January 18, 6:45pm, Broadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
Sun. January 20, 2:30pm, Holiday Village Cinema II, Park City
Fri. January 18, 6:45pm, Broadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
Sun. January 20, 2:30pm, Holiday Village Cinema II, Park City
New Line Cinema
116 N. Robertson Blvd., Ste. 200
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 854-5811
116 N. Robertson Blvd., Ste. 200
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 854-5811
