Queen Elizabeth I visits late 1970s England to find a depressing landscape where life has changed since her time.
Direction
Jarman's Super 8 aesthetic that invented grime-chic
Costume
Vivienne Westwood and Jordan's punk fashion as character
Production
Shot in real squats with actual scene legends
Director
Derek Jarman
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Toyah Willcox was already a punk icon; Jarman cast her before her music career exploded. The entire film was shot for roughly £75,000, mostly funded by a German punk label.
Jarman made this as direct response to Silver Jubilee celebrations, literally creating the queer punk aesthetic that would define 1980s counterculture. Thatcher's rise makes the film's despair almost clairvoyant.
GB
