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The Films of Derek Jarman (cont)
THE FILMS OF DEREK JARMAN
1986 - 1993
"I am the most fortunate film director of my generation. I've only ever done what I've wanted."  - Derek Jarman
Of course, Derek has worked on many more projects than these, as a designer, cinematographer, writer and actor but we can only list a small part of his work.

For the complete list, visit the Internet Movie Database
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Visit the Shrine of our Beloved Saint Derek of Jarman
"The film has an austerity that I have not equalled and that is rare in British cinema.  So few directors seem to be aware of the grammar of design and therefore the liberties they take seem arbitrary and aimless.  The visual grammar of this film is vital: a blue globe, the only blue in the film - Caravaggio said 'blue is poison' - is balanced perfectly by a blue pot in Profane Love; the camera pans across our still lifes only once to reveal the studio table; the work bench; the ivy crown of The Sick Bacchus is echoed by the gold crown with which the Cardinal replaces it.  Small gestures; but nothing is left to chance." Derek Jarman on Caravaggio,'Derek Jarman's Caravaggio'
Caravaggio - 1986
"The wind blows from the east bringing an acid hail that falls from the leaden sky. The air stutters tic tic tic tic, rattle of death-watch beetle on sad slate roofs. The swan of Avon dies a syncopated death. Ashes big as snowflakes fall, a black frost grips July by the throat. We pull the velvet curtains tight over the dawn, and shiver by empty grates. The household gods have vanished, no one remembers quite when. Poppies and corncockle have long been forgotten here, like the boys who died in Flanders, their names erased by a late frost which clipped the village cross. Spring lapped the fields in arsenic green, the oaks died this year. On every green hill mourners stand, and weep for The Last Of England"  Derek Jarman on The Last of England, 'Kicking the Pricks'
The NURSE takes the basket of white poppies from her MOTHER, kisses her and leaves...The UNKNOWN SOLDIER is naked. She leaves the room, turning around once more. The UNKNOWN SOLDIER has vanished. On the altar there is a flame. She closes the door. The white poppies remain as an offering. "I throw this film into the water, lest we forget."

"War Requiem is a collage.". Derek Jarman, 'War Requiem'
The Garden - 1990
"The chaos of a Super 8 shoot is a finely choreographed dance, everyone dodging this way and that. I walk the donkey across the set.  Is this a farce? Bunuel would have laughed. The Madonna pouts and looks sulky, the child screams, and then she's up chased by the photographers.  Far away, almost out of sight, a battle ensues on the shingle."  Derek Jarman  shooting The Garden, 'Modern Nature'
"The cinema was Ludwig's escape.  Mine, a garden.
Oh Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridge.
I have much of Ludwig in me.  Not in my work, but in my life.
My film does not portray or betray Ludwig.  It is there to open up.  It is logic.
And the black? The black annihilates the decorative and concentrates so my characters shine in it like red dwarfs - and green giants.  Yellow lines and blue stars."
Derek Jarman on Wittgenstein,'Wittgenstein'
Edward II - 1991
"Neither Edward nor Gaveston were the limp-wristed lisping fags so beloved of the tabloids.  Edward swam in winter, hedged and ditched the fields of his house at Langley.  Gaveston was the finest horseman of his age."
Derek Jarman, 'Queer Edward II'
Blue - 1993
"I place a delphinium, Blue, upon your grave."
See Derek Jarman's films, read his books - be inspired and keep his memory alive!
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All quotes on these film pages are copyright to the Estate of Derek Jarman.
They are used here in hopes of inspiring others to read his beautiful and moving journals and to see his amazing visionary films for themselves.  

 

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