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THE TEMPEST, the last of William Shakespeare's great plays, was adapted for the screen for the first time by Derek Jarman in 1979. Among the most visionary of modern film artists, Jarman, who died of AIDS in 1994 at age 52, was one of the first directors (outside the pornography circuit) to present openly gay material in feature-length films. Shot on location at the ancient and ghostly Stoneleigh Abbey, THE TEMPEST tells the story of Prospero the magician, who lives with his nubile daughter on an enchanted island and punishes his enemies when they are shipwrecked there. It's a study of sexual and political power in the guise of a fairy tale. Jarman presents Shakespeare's intricate comedy of magic and revenge in a form that is at once faithful to the spirit of the play and an original and dazzling spectacle mixing Hollywood pastiche, high camp, and gothic horror. His film recalls the innocent homoeroticism of Pier Paolo Pasolini's versions of classics, while its lush sense of décor and color is worthy of Vincente Minnelli. The film's master stroke is the finale, a wedding feast designed and choreographed as as full scale production number, with the veteran black comedy musical star Elisabeth Welch wafting her way through a chorus of hunky sailors as she belts out "Stormy Weather." It's one of the great scenes in British cinema.
GENRES
Cast & Crew
- Christopher Biggins - Stephano
- Jack Birkett - Caliban
- Peter Bull - King Alonso
- Ken Campbell - Gonzalo
- Neil Cunningham - Sebastian
- Claire Davenport - Sycorax
- Karl Johnson - Ariel
- David Meyer - Ferdinand
- Peter Turner - Trinculo
- Richard Warwick - Antonio
- Elisabeth Welch - Goddess
- Toyah Willcox - Miranda
- Heathcote Williams - Prospero
Festivals
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Reviews
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Claustrophobic. Unforgettable. Upsetting. Probably in a good way. I need time with it. That's a good thing.
True greatness, there. Anyone who loves the visual poetry of Jodorowsky or Paradjanov, whether straight or gay, may well love this movie. I consider this to be top notch work, complex and subtle imagery, concepts, layering. Just the difference in the different portrayals of Ariel, from one lighting and angle and make-up to the next keeps it elusive. Deeply charming Miranda, what a voice.
Clever ways of subverting the original, and helping us understand what's going on, jiggle waking and sleeping, and the camp of Stormy Weather.