The Angelic Conversation film review

›› The Angelic Conversation ‹‹

a film by Derek Jarman.

1985 | 78 mins | UK.

starring: Paul Reynolds, Philip Williamson, Dave Baby, Timothy Burke, Simon Costin, Christopher Hobbs,
Philip MacDonald, Toby Mott, Steve Radnall, Robert Sharp and Tony Wood.

a dazzling celebration of homosexual love and the beauty of youth.

Dave says:

Frustrated by endless battles to secure funding for his Sisyphean task Sisyphean task that was Caravaggio, Derek Jarman returned to the medium that he held most dear; namely Super-8. Then again, he had never really been away from such, given that with the most minimal of capital, let alone cast and crew, he could shoot whatever and whenever he liked and screen the results later that night for all to see. Such home movies had been part of his life since the late '60s and now he returned to them, with the Dorset coast and the Somerset countryside, amongst other locations including near reservoirs in West London, becoming the backdrop to his latest work.

Yet it was around this time that Channel 4 had commissioned Peter Greenaway to create a television version of one of Dante's cantos. Jarman, furious at having been passed over, hit back with the idea of creating a film based on Shakespeare's sonnets, words that are clearly open to homoerotic interpretation. Whilst the project failed to come to fruition, the idea stayed in his mind to surface as the perfect bridge between the sound and vision of what became The Angelic Conversation.

For freed from the confines of a script, Jarman was at ease to experiment with light, reflections and literally smoke and mirrors. Opening with slow motion cinematography of a youth looking forlorn as he stares out of a wrought iron window seemingly yearning for love, here Jarman seduces his audience with a series of dreamlike sequences; from scenes of two young men paying homage to a tattooed figurehead, to the sight of a gay couple endlessly kissing and caressing each other in loving embrace.

Only too happy to let his camera linger on a young man swimming, as if purifying his soul in his quest for love, to that of footage of two youths playfully wrestling with each other that's all too reminiscent of the films of Bob Mizer of the Athletic Model Guild fame; albeit far more artistically shot, this is a work that intentionally juxtaposes scenes of outright male affection, with the rugged reality of barren landscapes filled with rocks and boulders, that in turn contrast with an English rose styled garden with flowers in full bloom.

Constantly switching between footage that's often grainy, at times crystal clear, as filmed in monochrome, to tinted shades of the rainbow, to colour in all of its vibrant glory, here we find Jarman rejoice in the freedom of experimental filmmaking. Perhaps then it's of no surprise that The Angelic Conversation would come to mark the film that Jarman would later cite as being "the closest to my heart", complete with the soothing vocal tones of Dame Judi Dench reciting the words of fourteen Shakespearean sonnets, coupled with a soundtrack that's as much at home with the Coils 'How to Destroy Angels' as that of the music of Benjamin Britten; a reference to the composer that would surface in feature length duration in years to follow.

That the end result equates to Jarman's dazzling celebration of homosexual love and the beauty of youth, goes without saying. But this is also a film that showcases Jarman's continuing unease with the traditional film medium. And in as much as this unconventional work will delight many; it's equally not going to be to everyone's cinematic taste. What is remains however is a resounding testament to the artistic imagery and creative mind of Derek Jarman.

Quote: "Love is too young to know what conscience is; yet who knows not conscience is born of love."

›› available as part of the BFI catalogue: 29th January, 2007 / UK.

›› revised: Monday, 10th March, 2025.

Gay Visibility - overt | Nudity - from the waist up | Overall - file under ... 3+ stars

›› archive reference #004 - revised ‹‹

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