The Garden (1990)
Directed by
Derek Jarman
Genre: Avant-garde / Experimental, Drama, Gay & Lesbian Films, Surrealist Film
Runtime: 92 min
Country: UK / Germany
Language: English
Subs:
Color: Black and White / Color
Sound Mix: Dolby
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099634/
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.
Director Derek Jarman takes the viewer for a walk around his own garden in rural England for this religious satire. The story is essentially that of the Passion of Christ, but the sufferings are instead visited upon a gay couple. (While the persecutive church is shown as a terrible villain, it should be mentioned that Christ himself is treated with respect}. Jarman then assaults the senses with a series of seemingly unrelated images, including a campy version of the song {&Think Pink} from {#Funny Face}. — John Voorhees
A breathtaking film.
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.
The doomed garden of desire inhabited by the lovers is connected with the sexual revolution, which gives the expulsion a more pointedly political and historical resonance: Thatcherism and the appearance of HIV. In one of the more incongruous moments of the film, a cabaret singer ( Jessica Martin) performs “Think Pink” from the musical Funny Face, while matted in behind her are images from a gay pride march. She is joined by the two lovers, who are dressed in identical pink suits, and who hold a baby. The gold rings they wear suggest that they are married. The combination of all of these elements reflects some of the cherished goals of the gay liberation movement, including the transformation of the nuclear family and the claiming of public space. Midway through the film, however, the tone shifts considerably. We return to a sleeping Jarman, followed by a quick montage of shots of the expulsion, of the S&M serpent in the garden of Eden, Jarman on the bed in the water, now clearly anguished or in pain, the tormenting demons with torches, and a screaming Madonna. The rest of the film will be dominated by images of persecution and torment.
JIM ELLIS: Derek Jarman's Angelic Conversations. University of Minnesota Press, 2009. Disponible en: KaraGarga.
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Derek.Jarman.-.The.Garden.(1990).avi 
Subs: Castellano | Português brasileiro
