The Garden (1995)

Synopsis: Filmmaker Derek Jarman's rendition of the Christ passion play is a surreal exploration of persecuted homosexuality. Two male lovers are humiliated, arrested, and tortured in this nonlinear collage... Filmmaker Derek Jarman's rendition of the Christ passion play is a surreal exploration of persecuted homosexuality. Two male lovers are humiliated, arrested, and tortured in this nonlinear collage of images that conveys a series of deeply personal and internalized emotions ranging from pride to humor to profound humiliation. Jarman expertly delves into the experience of being gay from a late-20th-century perspective while lyrically combining religious iconography with very little dialogue. Jarman's unique narrative depends on his trademark painterly sensibility, utilizing bizarre colors, moods, and dreamlike images of apocalypse to convey moving visual poetry that is searing in its fiery vision of long-standing homophobia and brutality. Tilda Swinton appears as the Mary-like mother figure who is simultaneously subjected to praise, glory, and bitter downfall. A visually stunning film, THE GARDEN evokes the early work of Kenneth Anger and Jean Cocteau. [More]

Starring: Tilda Swinton, Johnny Mills, Philip MacDonald, Roger Cook

Starring: Tilda Swinton, Johnny Mills, Philip MacDonald, Roger Cook, Kevin Collins, Spencer Lee

Director: Derek Jarman

Director: Derek Jarman
Composer: Simon Fisher Turner
Producer: James Mackay

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