Edward II
As a tribute to Derek Jarman, the great English eccentric filmmaker who died last year, the Moscow International Film Festival is screening his biopic of Britain's only openly acknowledged gay monarch, the highly stylised and shocking Edward II.
Based on the controversial 16th-century playwright Christopher Marlowe's drama, Jarman fashions his script into a radical attack on homophobic prejudices in modern British society, staged in contemporary costume with police and military uniforms representing the forces of oppression.
The plot is based around the monarch's preference for his lover over his queen (played with cruel beauty by Jarman regular Tilda Swinton), which sparked conflict with the barons of England and ultimately led to civil war. Humiliated and rejected by her king, Queen Isabella tries everything to win him back from his lover, and failing, finally turns into a vampiric monster who literally sucks the life out of her victims. The king, meanwhile experiences a gruesome death at the hands of his courtiers.
Provocative in the extreme, Jarman never was one for compromise, although it often forced him to work with a budget for his entire film which some larger productions reserve for merely dressing the star. Nevertheless, Edward II is characteristic of Jarman's unique cinematic vision, one of intellectual energy and visual splendour. MONIKA MAURER
Prod cos: Working Titile/British Screen/BBC
Prod: Steve Clark-Hall, Anthony Root
Dir: Derek Jarman
Scr: Derek Jarman, Stephen McBride, Ken Butler
Ph: Ian Wilson
Ed: George Akers
Mus: Simon Fisher Turner
Art Dir: Christopher Hobbs
Cast: Steven Waddington, Andrew Tiernan, Tilda Swinton, Nigel Terry, Kevin Collins, Dudley Sutton
Running time: 90 mins
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