Tilda Swinton as Madonna fleeing paparazzi while queer martyrs burn—Jarman's final middle finger to Thatcher's Britain.
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.
Cinematography
Hand-processed Super 8 that looks like dying embers.
Costume
Swinton's gold lamé Madonna—camp as sacred weapon.
Direction
Jarman dying of AIDS, filming his own Golgotha.
Director
Derek Jarman
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot in Jarman's own Dungeness garden while he was going blind from AIDS complications—every frame is autobiographical resistance.
The 'garden' is both Eden and grave; Jarman knew he wouldn't survive to tend it. The film premiered months before his death.
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