In the Shadow of the Sun

1981

English

6.5

♡ 8

Action

Fantasy

Derek Jarman Director

Christopher Hobbs as

Kevin Whitney as

Francis Wishart as Lucy Su

Lucy Su as

'The Shadow of the Sun' draws upon Derek Jarman’s interest with alchemical processes as a metaphor for reprocessing Super-8 film. Jarman once described film’s union of light and matter as “an alchemical conjunction” and experimented throughout his career with creating dream symbolism through the superimposition of image and action. Originally called English Apocalypse, the film’s final title is derived from a 17th Century alchemical text that used the phrase as a synonym for the philosopher’s stone – the highly sought substance that turns base metals into gold and silver. The film was intended as a step toward the idea of an ambient video, that like its musical counterpart, was designed to enhance an environment.

Edward II

1991

English

6.8

♡ 17

100%

75%

14th century

Action

based on play or musical

Drama

History

husband wife relationship

Derek Jarman Director

Roger Hammond as Bishop

Tilda Swinton as Isabella

Andrew Tiernan as Piers Gaveston

Chris McHallem as Thug

England, 14th century. King Edward II falls in love with Piers Gaveston, a young man of humble origins, whom he honors with favors and titles of nobility. The cold and jealous Queen Isabella conspires with the evil Mortimer to get rid of Gaveston, overthrow her husband and take power…

Jubilee

1978

English

5.9

♡ 10

100%

58%

Action

Comedy

corrupt police officials

music videos and concerts

Derek Jarman Director

Jack Birkett as Borgia Ginz

Richard O'Brien as John Dee

Toyah Willcox as Mad

Karl Johnson as Sphinx

Queen Elizabeth I visits late 1970s England to find a depressing landscape where life has changed since her time.

The Garden

1990

English

6.3

♡ 10

100%

Derek Jarman Director

Vernon Dobtcheff as

Dawn Archibald as

Tilda Swinton as Madonna

Jack Birkett as Pontius

A nearly wordless visual narrative intercuts two main stories and a couple of minor ones. A woman, perhaps the Madonna, brings forth her baby to a crowd of intrusive paparazzi; she tries to flee them. Two men who are lovers marry and are arrested by the powers that be. The men are mocked and pilloried, tarred, feathered, and beaten. Loose in this contemporary world of electrical-power transmission lines is also Jesus. The elements, particularly fire and water, content with political power, which is intolerant and murderous.

War Requiem

1989

English

6.5

♡ 9

100%

Derek Jarman Director

Patricia Hayes as Mother

Sean Bean as The German Soldier

Tilda Swinton as The Nurse

Laurence Olivier as The Old Soldier

During World War I, British soldier Owen is mortified by the examples of cruelty that surround him in the trenches. He combats these terrifying images by maintaining hope in his love for an army nurse. But he also begins to accept his fate as another battlefield sacrifice.

The Tempest

1979

English

6.3

♡ 7

60%

Derek Jarman Director

Karl Johnson as Ariel, an airy spirit

Jack Birkett as Caliban, a savage and deformed slave

David Meyer as Ferdinand, his son

Toyah Willcox as Miranda, his daughter

Prospero, a potent magician, lives on a desolate isle with his virginal daughter, Miranda. He's in exile, banished from his duchy by his usurping brother and the King of Naples. Providence brings these enemies near; aided by his vassal the spirit Ariel, Prospero conjures a tempest to wreck the Italian ship. The king's son, thinking all others lost, becomes Prospero's prisoner, falling in love with Miranda and she with him. Prospero's brother and the king wander the island, as do a drunken cook and sailor, who conspire with Caliban, Prospero's beastly slave, to murder Prospero. Prospero wants reason to triumph, Ariel wants his freedom, Miranda a husband; the sailors want to dance.

Arena Glitterbug

1994

English

6.5

♡ 8

Derek Jarman Director

Tilda Swinton as Herself

Toyah Willcox as Herself

Andrew Logan as Himself

Michael Clark as Himself

A collage of Derek Jarman's super 8 footage spanning over 20 years.

Wittgenstein

1993

English

6.9

♡ 9

83%

Derek Jarman Director

Michael Gough as Bertrand Russell

Sally Dexter as Hermine Wittgenstein

Tilda Swinton as Lady Ottoline Morrell

Karl Johnson as Ludwig Wittgenstein

A dramatization, in modern theatrical style, of the life and thought of the Viennese-born, Cambridge-educated philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose principal interest was the nature and limits of language. A series of sketches depict the unfolding of his life from boyhood, through the era of the first World War, to his eventual Cambridge professorship and association with Bertrand Russell and John Maynard Keynes. The emphasis in these sketches is on the exposition of the ideas of Wittgenstein, a homosexual, and an intuitive, moody, proud, and perfectionistic thinker generally regarded as a genius.

Blue

1993

English

7.3

♡ 5

Derek Jarman Director

Nigel Terry as Narrator

Tilda Swinton as Narrator

John Quentin as Narrator

Derek Jarman as Self / Narrator

Against a plain, unchanging blue screen, a densely interwoven soundtrack of voices, sound effects and music attempt to convey a portrait of Derek Jarman's experiences with AIDS, both literally and allegorically, together with an exploration of the meanings associated with the colour blue.

The Last of England

1987

English

6.4

♡ 3

Drama

Fantasy

Derek Jarman Director

Nigel Terry as Narrator

Spencer Leigh as Soldier / Various roles

Tilda Swinton as The Maid

Jonny Phillips as Various roles

The artist's personal commentary on the decline of his country in a language closer to poetry than prose. A dark meditation on London under Thatcher.

Caravaggio

1986

English

6.5

♡ 13

82%

Derek Jarman Director

Tilda Swinton as Lena

Dawn Archibald as Pipo

Sean Bean as Ranuccio

Dexter Fletcher as Young Caravaggio

A retelling of the life of the celebrated 17th-century Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio through his brilliant, nearly blasphemous paintings and his flirtations with the underworld.

Sebastiane

1976

Latin

6.2

♡ 19

86%

Derek Jarman Director

Patricia Quinn as Emperor's Guest

Peter Hinwood as Emperor's Guest

Eric Roberts as Executioner

Leonardo Treviglio as Sebastian

Rome, AD 303. Emperor Diocletian demotes his favourite, Sebastian, from captain of the palace guard to the rank of common soldier and banishes him to a remote coastal outpost where his fellow soldiers, weakened by their desires, turn to homosexual activities to satisfy their needs. Sebastian becomes the target of lust for the officer Severus, but repeatedly rejects the man's advances. Castigated for his Christian faith, he is tortured, humiliated and ultimately killed.

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In the Shadow of the Sun

Edward II

Jubilee

The Garden

War Requiem

The Tempest

Arena Glitterbug

Wittgenstein

Blue

The Last of England

Caravaggio

Sebastiane