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.
Cinematography
Every frame looks like a Caravaggio painting that escaped into heat.
Direction
Jarman's debut: already fully himself, already uncompromising.
Director
Derek Jarman
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Jarman and Humfress shot this for £45,000, funded partly by selling Jarman's paintings. The Latin was written by a classics scholar who later called the result 'appalling.'
This is widely considered the first British film to feature positive depictions of male homosexuality—and it did so by making every character suffer beautifully for 86 minutes.
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