Derek Jarman's EDWARD II is calculated to offend, staging Christopher Marlowe's 16th-century tragedy in a timeless limbo and emphasizing the work's sexual themes if not to the exclusion, then very much to the diminution, of all others.
Edward II (Steven Waddington), King of England, is neglecting his marital duties for a robust affair with boyhood companion Piers Gaveston (Andrew Tiernan), son of a knight. Edward's wife, the icily beautiful and ferociously willful Queen Isabella (Tilda Swinton), is hurt, then enraged by his
indifference. His nobles disapprove doubly, on the grounds that the relationship is homosexual and that it disturbs the social order. They attempt to force him to banish Gaveston, and though Edward realizes he is flouting custom with dangerous boldness, even for a king--or perhaps especially for a
king--he fails to see the plot that is taking shape around him. Isabella conspires with Kent (Jerome Flynn) to overthrow her husband and install their young son, Prince Edward (Jody Graber), on the throne. Loyal to Gaveston to the end, the king is arrested and brutally murdered in custody.
Brief synopsis can scarcely do justice to the complexity of Edward II's story of love, betrayal, politics, ambition, greed and murder. In fact, Christopher Marlowe's play has long been criticized for its bewilderingly rapid shifts of alliance and enmity, though these same elements, along with its
frank and sympathetic exploration of homosexual love, contribute to its startling freshness more than 300 years after it was written.
British filmmaker Derek Jarman, whose aesthetic orientation is intensely visual, is well known for his iconoclastic and eccentric (sometimes a bit too preciously so) approach to historical subjects; he's particularly drawn to material in which he can freely mix the sacred and the profane. Shot in
Latin, SEBASTIAN, which marked the former production designer's feature directorial debut, was a homoerotic exploration of the life of martyr St. Sebastian, traditionally depicted as a comely youth pierced by numerous arrows (the image was a favorite of Japanese writer Yukio Mishima); it was
followed by JUBILEE, THE TEMPEST, and THE LAST OF ENGLAND and CARAVAGGIO, both released in the US in 1988. An outspoken gay activist, Jarman's politics (he went public with his HIV-positive status shortly after being diagnosed in December 1986) are an integral part of his art. In EDWARD II, Jarman
bluntly equates the sexual prejudices (and, by extension, intolerance of any form of difference) of 16th-century England with those of contemporary society. Shot on a set that resembles a vast, grey basement, the film hedges the issue of period and employs distancing devices to break the fictional
illusion. Some cast members appear in Elizabethan costume, while others wear modern dress; a scene in which citizens riot is staged with contemporary policemen and gay activists bearing up-to-the-minute placards, and Edward and Gaveston dance to a mournful ballad sung by gender-bending Annie
Lennox, who saunters around a corner and then melts back into the darkness. Though striking, this methodology seems pointless. The text itself makes clear that there's nothing dated about EDWARD II, and that its concerns are as vital today as when it was written. Jarman's lavish conceits verge on
so much lily-gilding.
Though the issue of class is inextricably woven into the narrative, in Jarman's consideration it takes a back seat to homophobia, and the passion of his convictions makes him visually didactic. Star-crossed leads Waddington and Tiernan are costumed, groomed and shot with painstaking flattery; the
scenes of Edward and Gaveston together--wrestling, bantering and making love--are composed with tender care, emphasizing the glistening beauty of their nearly identical pale skin and red hair. Among the other cast members, only Jarman regular Swinton is afforded equally striking treatment. But her
Isabella is an haute couture gargoyle, a harpie with brilliantly lacquered fingernails; every increase in her bitterness and determination to strip Edward of his throne is mirrored in her ever higher hairdos, larger earrings and redder lipstick. It comes as no great surprise when she finally rips
out a man's throat with her teeth--she's both beauty and the beast.
Tiernan and Swinton turn in the film's best performances. She delicately captures Isabella's initial hurt and confusion as Edward turns away from her, then skillfully delineates the way in which she transmutes her pain into cold fury and determination for revenge. Tiernan gives a less complex
performance, but captures flawlessly Gaveston's common compulsion to flaunt before the aristocracy his privileged position as the King's consort; he knows better, but he can't help himself. Waddington is the weak side of the triangle. Though convincingly besotted, he's unconvincing as royalty;
however much Edward may reject convention, he was born and raised to be king, and it's disconcerting to see no sign of it. Veteran actor Nigel Terry (THE LION IN WINTER, EXCALIBUR) brings to his less flashy but pivotal role as Mortimer, Isabella's lover and co-conspirator, the unflinching
competence one expects from him.
Despite its faults, EDWARD II is both unusual and thought provoking. For all its fashionably post-modern production, it's far more compelling viewing than more conventional renditions of similar material, which often gives off the musty air of the museum. (Violence, nudity, sexual situations.) leave a comment
