The Last of England
1987 · 87 min · ★ 6.1 · Drama
The artist's personal commentary on the decline of his country in a language closer to poetry than prose. A dark meditation on London under Thatcher.
Directed by Derek Jarman · Written by Derek Jarman
Your Rating
Where to Watch
Cast
-
Tilda Swinton The Maid -
Spencer Leigh Soldier / Various roles - ' 'Spring' Mark Adley Spring / Various roles (as Spring)
-
Gerrard McArthur Various roles -
Jonny Phillips Various roles (as Jonathan Phillips) - G Gay Gaynor Various roles
- M Matthew Hawkins Junkyard Guy
-
Nigel Terry Narrator (voice) -
Derek Jarman Himself (uncredited)
Make it a double feature
2h 13m togetherBoth from Derek Jarman.
More from Derek JarmanSee all →
Projections · 1993Projections
★ 8.51993
MovieMusicDocumentary
The innovative and influential British filmmaker Derek Jarman was invited to direct the Pet Shop Boys' 1989 tour. This film is a series of iconoclastic images he created for the background projections. Stunning, specially shot sequences (featuring actors, the Pet Shop Boys, and friends of Jarman) contrast with documentary montages of nature, all skillfully edited to music tracks.
The Smiths: The Complete Picture · 1992The Smiths: The Complete Picture
★ 7.81992
MovieMusic
Thirteen Smiths' recordings, half of them in a club with a live audience. These alternate with five rock videos, two directed by Derek Jarman (Panic and Ask), two by Tim Broad (Girlfriend in a Coma and Stop Me...), and one by Paula Grief and Richard Levine (How Soon Is Now?). It concludes with Jarman's short film, "The Queen Is Dead," with a three-song soundtrack. The rock videos, particularly Jarman's, are filled with multiple and superimposed images, changing tints, and little narrative coherence; they get their pace from the music's rhythm. Androgyny, dancing children, belching smokestacks, graffiti, angry young men, a waif in a cap: collages of modern alienation.
The Devils · 1971The Devils
★ 7.51971
MovieDramaHistory
In 1634 France, charismatic Father Urbain Grandier becomes the target of a sexually obsessed nun’s witchcraft accusations, which corrupt church and state officials are all too happy to exploit.
The Comic Strip Presents... · 1982The Comic Strip Presents...
★ 7.41982
SeriesComedy
The Comic Strip is a group of British comedians, who do parodies of films, literature and sometimes major events.
Blue · 1993Blue
★ 7.21993
MovieDocumentaryDrama
Against a plain, unchanging blue screen, a densely interwoven soundtrack of voices, sound effects and music attempt to convey a portrait of Derek Jarman's experiences with AIDS, both literally and allegorically, together with an exploration of the meanings associated with the colour blue.
Screen Two · 1985Screen Two
★ 7.11985
SeriesDrama
Series of single made-for-television dramas.
Prick Up Your Ears · 1987Prick Up Your Ears
★ 6.71987
MovieDrama
When the young, attractive Joe Orton meets the older, more introverted Kenneth Halliwell at drama school, he befriends the kindred spirit and they start an affair. As Orton becomes more comfortable with his sexuality and starts to find success with his writing, Halliwell becomes increasingly alienated and jealous, ultimately tapping into a dangerous rage.
Sebastiane · 1976Sebastiane
★ 6.51976
MovieDramaHistory
Rome, AD 303. Emperor Diocletian demotes his favourite, Sebastian, from captain of the palace guard to the rank of common soldier and banishes him to a remote coastal outpost where his fellow soldiers, weakened by their desires, turn to homosexual activities to satisfy their needs. Sebastian becomes the target of lust for the officer Severus, but repeatedly rejects the man's advances. Castigated for his Christian faith, he is tortured, humiliated and ultimately killed.
Savage Messiah · 1972Savage Messiah
★ 6.41972
MovieDrama
In the Paris of the 1910s, brash young sculptor Henri Gaudier begins a creative partnership with an older writer, Sophie Brzeska. Though the couple is 20 years apart in age, Gaudier finds that his untamed work is complemented by the older woman's cultural refinement. He then moves to London with Brzeska, where he falls in with a group of avant-garde artists. There, Gaudier encounters yet another artistic muse in passionate suffragette Gosh Boyle.
Wittgenstein · 1993Wittgenstein
★ 6.41993
MovieDramaHistory
A dramatization, in modern theatrical style, of the life and thought of the Viennese-born, Cambridge-educated philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose principal interest was the nature and limits of language. A series of sketches depict the unfolding of his life from boyhood, through the era of the first World War, to his eventual Cambridge professorship and association with Bertrand Russell and John Maynard Keynes. The emphasis in these sketches is on the exposition of the ideas of Wittgenstein, a homosexual, and an intuitive, moody, proud, and perfectionistic thinker generally regarded as a genius.
In the Shadow of the Sun · 1981In the Shadow of the Sun
★ 6.41981
MovieFantasyMusic
'The Shadow of the Sun' draws upon Derek Jarman’s interest with alchemical processes as a metaphor for reprocessing Super-8 film. Jarman once described film’s union of light and matter as “an alchemical conjunction” and experimented throughout his career with creating dream symbolism through the superimposition of image and action. Originally called English Apocalypse, the film’s final title is derived from a 17th Century alchemical text that used the phrase as a synonym for the philosopher’s stone – the highly sought substance that turns base metals into gold and silver. The film was intended as a step toward the idea of an ambient video, that like its musical counterpart, was designed to enhance an environment.
Edward II · 1991Edward II
★ 6.31991
MovieHistoryRomance
England, 14th century. King Edward II falls in love with Piers Gaveston, a young man of humble origins, whom he honors with favors and titles of nobility. The cold and jealous Queen Isabella conspires with the evil Mortimer to get rid of Gaveston, overthrow her husband and take power…
War Requiem · 1989War Requiem
★ 6.31989
MovieWarDrama
During World War I, British soldier Owen is mortified by the examples of cruelty that surround him in the trenches. He combats these terrifying images by maintaining hope in his love for an army nurse. But he also begins to accept his fate as another battlefield sacrifice.
Caravaggio · 1986Caravaggio
★ 6.11986
MovieDramaHistory
A retelling of the life of the celebrated 17th-century Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio through his brilliant, nearly blasphemous paintings and his flirtations with the underworld.
Jubilee · 1978Jubilee
★ 6.01978
MovieComedyDrama
Queen Elizabeth I visits late 1970s England to find a depressing landscape where life has changed since her time.
The Tempest · 1979The Tempest
★ 5.81979
MovieDramaFantasy
Prospero, a potent magician, lives on a desolate isle with his virginal daughter, Miranda. He's in exile, banished from his duchy by his usurping brother and the King of Naples. Providence brings these enemies near; aided by his vassal the spirit Ariel, Prospero conjures a tempest to wreck the Italian ship. The king's son, thinking all others lost, becomes Prospero's prisoner, falling in love with Miranda and she with him. Prospero's brother and the king wander the island, as do a drunken cook and sailor, who conspire with Caliban, Prospero's beastly slave, to murder Prospero. Prospero wants reason to triumph, Ariel wants his freedom, Miranda a husband; the sailors want to dance.
More Like This
Bloody Sunday · 2002Bloody Sunday
★ 7.22002
MovieDramaHistory
The dramatised story of the Irish civil rights protest march on January 30 1972 which ended in a massacre by British troops.
Edge of Seventeen · 1999Edge of Seventeen
★ 6.51999
MovieComedyDrama
1984, Sandusky, Ohio. A naive 17-year-old navigates heartbreak and self-expression as he explores his sexuality.
City of Men · 2007City of Men
★ 7.02007
MovieDrama
Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.
Katzelmacher · 1969Katzelmacher
★ 6.41969
MovieDrama
A group of young slackers spend most of their time hanging out in front of a Munich apartment building. When a Greek immigrant named Jorgos moves in, however, their aimless lives are shaken up. Soon, new tensions arise both within the group and with Jorgos.
The Wedding Banquet · 1993The Wedding Banquet
★ 7.21993
MovieComedyDrama
A Taiwanese-American man is happily settled in New York with his American boyfriend. He plans a marriage of convenience to a Chinese woman in order to keep his parents off his back and to get the woman a green card. Chaos follows when his parents arrive in New York for the wedding.
Celebrity · 1998Celebrity
★ 6.01998
MovieDramaComedy
The career and personal life of writer Lee are at a standstill, so he divorces his bashful wife, Robin, and dives into a new job as an entertainment journalist. His assignments take him to the swankiest corners of Manhattan, but as he jumps from one lavish party to another and engages in numerous empty romances, he starts to doubt the worth of his work. Meanwhile, top TV producer Tony falls for Robin and introduces her to the world of celebrity.
He Got Game · 1998He Got Game
★ 6.81998
MovieDrama
A basketball player's father must try to convince him to go to a college so he can get a shorter prison sentence.
The Matador · 2005The Matador
★ 6.32005
MovieActionComedy
The life of Danny Wright, a salesman forever on the road, veers into dangerous and surreal territory when he wanders into a Mexican bar and meets a mysterious stranger, Julian, who's very likely a hit man. Their meeting sets off a chain of events that will change their lives forever, as Wright is suddenly thrust into a far-from-mundane existence that he takes to surprisingly well … once he gets acclimated to it.
Chopper · 2000Chopper
★ 6.82000
MovieCrimeDrama
The true and infamous story of Australia's notorious criminal Mark 'Chopper' Read and his years of crime, interest in violence, drugs and prostitutes.
A Woman Is a Woman · 1961A Woman Is a Woman
★ 7.31961
MovieComedyDrama
Longing for a baby, a stripper pursues another man in order to make her boyfriend jealous.
Flawless · 1999Flawless
★ 6.21999
MovieComedyDrama
An ultraconservative police officer suffers a debilitating stroke and is assigned to a rehabilitative program that includes singing lessons - with the drag queen next door.
