Derek Jarman - The Garden (1990)

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Plot Summary:
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.

IMDb user comments:

Among Jarman's best., 3 March 2005

Author: pdale from United States
One gets the impression that other reviewers on IMDb have never seen or appreciated Jarman's other films, or any art film for that matter. This isn't for the intellectually inert. One also wonders whether they've taken the time to watch this one more than once -- its conflicted and dense, drawing on mutually contradictory sources for its symbolism, and attempting a synthesis or nexus.

The main themes are religion, love, oppression, family, and above all, time. Events and elements from every era of recorded human history co-exist together in one time and interact. While much of the film itself is done in the anxious, unsteady, rapid-moving style that Jarman came to be known for, other parts are filmed with graceful panoramic transitions. Throughout all the film, landscapes are replaced with artificial projections, perhaps to give the film an aura of unreality or allegory. It is at once both scripture and pornography, philosophy and nonsense, a gloomy warning and a hopeful swansong. I believe it to be one of Jarman's most un-acknowledged films. Don't let the harsh words of bad reviewers sway you against spending an evening absorbing this film -- its mesmerizing.

"Cold, cold, cold, they died so silently", 16 December 2004

Author: jamesmarcustucker (jamesmarcustucker@hotmail.com) from Brighton, England
This, in my opinion is the most heart wrenching film by Derek Jarman. It has been both celebrated and derided - An obituary in the The Daily Mail commenting on it being Jarman's "most silly film". However, that is an easy and ignorant comment to make by a critic unmoved and unaffected by the plight of gay people in the 1980's and 1990's for equality and justice in the UK.

The film is a series of beautiful images depicting The Passion (a very personal representation of it from Jarman) - substituting the plight of Jesus with the modern plight of gay men for understanding. The Virgin Mary becomes a modern day celebrity harassed by the media (such as Princess Diana) and Mary Magdoline is substituted for a vilified drag queen. The god like narration is a poem about the journey of the film takes and the pain of loss associated with AIDS. The music is beautifully designed by Simon Turner, and the narration, like that in 'Blue' is moving to the point where it sends shivers down your spine when presented against the emotive imagery. The only slight criticism I would have is the sometimes awkwardly staged studio work with blue screen lacks the power and earthy quality of the location shooting done on Dungeoness shingle Again, like many of Jarmans films, it is quite esoteric - but you don't have to be gay, or have AIDS to be moved by The Garden's sheer passion and spiritual presence. Like the narration states, this film "wants to share this loneliness with you" and it's non-narrative, experimental and home-movie like quality takes you on a wonderful "journey without direction".

A breath taking film, 3 December 1998
Author: Juan kasper (kasper@quetzalcoatl.igeofcu.unam.mx) from Mexico City, Mexico
This is one of Derek Jarman´s best films. I have followed Derek Jarman´s career as a film maker and the only thing I want to say is that "THE GARDEN" is one of my favourite films.

Make it stop, 24 May 1999

Author: Bjork from Chicago, Illinois
Watching this movie gave me the feeling that I had suddenly gone insane for 90 minutes. Now I can say that some parts were merely awful while others were pretentious crap. The only things going for this movie are the presences of Tilda Swinton even though she doesn't speak, and the two leading men who were at least cute. But those points are not nearly enough to rescue "The Garden" from itself. Be warned.

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Monday, May 3, 2010

Derek Jarman - The Garden (1990)

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