Filmed in the stark environs of Derek Jarman's coastal home in the shadow of Dungeness power station, The Garden is a powerful and moving series of allegorical dreamscapes
Close to a nuclear power station, inside his modest, sparsely furnished home on the barren, windswept Dungeness coastline, Derek Jarman dreams. This intimate insight into Jarman’s inner world was beautifully shot on fragile Super 8 film with the help of friends and collaborators. Shifting from the personal to the political, it culminates in a near-mythic exploration of sexual repression at the end of the 20th century, movingly utilising a cast of iconic religious figures that includes Jesus, Judas and the Madonna. Increasingly ill by this point, Jarman faces his mortality with poetry and dignity.
Featuring a brilliant score by Simon Fisher-Turner, The Garden is a visual tour-de-force from the acclaimed director of Sebastiane and Jubilee.
Extras
Derek’s Shoot in Dungeness (1990, 6 mins)
The Wanderer (1991, 30 mins): David Lewis’ and Andrew Crabb’s experimental film based on the Anglo-Saxon poem of the same name
Kiss 25 Goodbye (1991, 7 mins)
Clause and Effect (1988, 19 mins): detailing the gay community uniting against the now infamous Clause 28
Orange Juice (1984, 41 mins): Jarman’s location scouting for the promo ‘What Presence?!’
Shooting the Hunter (2015, 5 mins)
James Mackay Remembers The Garden (2019, 15 mins)
Anything Can Happen (2019, 11 mins): an interview with Richard Heslop
David Lewis Remembers Derek Jarman (2019, 15 mins)
The Other Great Masterpiece (2019, 6 mins): Director John Maybury considers Jarman’s enthusiasm for gardening
Life with Derek: Simon Fisher Turner’s Recordings (2018, 44 mins, audio only)
