Performance (1970)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Directors:

Donald Cammell
Nicolas Roeg

Writer:

Donald Cammell (written by)

Release Date:

4 September 1970 (Finland)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Fantasy | Music

Tagline:

See them all in a film about fantasy. And reality. Vice. And versa.

Plot:

Chas, a violent and psychotic East London gangster needs a place to lie low after a hit that should never have been carried out...

Plot Keywords:

Gangster | Superstar | Lie | Waitress | Cereal

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

James Fox	...	Chas
Mick Jagger	...	Turner
Anita Pallenberg	...	Pherber
Michèle Breton	...	Lucy (as Michele Breton)
Ann Sidney	...	Dana
John Bindon	...	Moody
Stanley Meadows	...	Rosebloom
Allan Cuthbertson	...	The Lawyer
Anthony Morton	...	Dennis (as Antony Morton)
Johnny Shannon	...	Harry Flowers
Anthony Valentine	...	Joey Maddocks
Kenneth Colley	...	Tony Farrell (as Ken Colley)
John Sterland	...	The Chauffeur
Laraine Wickens	...	Lorraine

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content, nudity, drug material and some violence.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

France:-16 | South Korea:18 | West Germany:18 (f) | Brazil:18 | Australia:R | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | USA:X (original rating) | Finland:K-16 (cut)

Filming Locations:

23 Lowndes Square, Knightsbridge, London, England, UK

Company:

Goodtimes Enterprises

Trivia:

Anita Pallenberg replaced the pregnant Marianne Faithfull.

Quotes:

Turner: Nothing is true, everything is permitted.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Indie Sex: Extremes (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Gone Dead Train

You shoot too much of that s***, Pherber.

This film operates on multiple levels and in cultures that we barely knew existed in 1970. The East End London mobster culture being one and the London counter-culture of drugs and music another. To further lend a surreal air, Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammel (who co-directed the film) present metaphors and psychological homologies- sadism, homosexuality, hierarchy in gangs and organizations- all stemming from central psychological needs for power and dominance combined with and expressed through sexuality. The first half of the film seems to anticipate Guy Ritchie- a glimpse into Cockney gangsters and "poofs" and then, Chas steps into Turner's lair and the film alters along with our consciousness. Suddenly, underneath the gangster/rockstar theme another, more deeply embedded theme emerges about identity and the part of others that we share in common(the deeper motivations and identities). Turner and Chas sense it in each other's "performance", all four main characters (arranged on a sexual continuum from the very female Pherber through 2 personae of androgyny to the very male Chas) explore their other parts as when Pherber puts a mirror, reflecting her breast on Chas. The shared motivational part comes from the "performance" of violence or art that Chas and Turner are fascinated by in each other. Add in some very strange camera angles and you have one of the very few films that ever did the impossible- represented altered consciousness to an audience (mainly) in straight consciousness. That last part depended on what year you saw it in theatres. In all, a very profound movie. Donald Cammell was a genius who never got his proper due.